Reversed
by TintedElements
Summary: At the end of the first anime, Ed is sent back to London. But he's a kid again and through a twist of fate gets involved with the wizarding world. Will the alchemist help save wizarding Britain? Will he find a way to return to his home and true family? Written by Autzulfrost.
1. New World?

A/N: Yay for my (Autzulfrost's) first fanfic. I realize that there are a lot of FMAxHP crossovers already, but I wanted to try one too. I just want to say that in this fanfic a lot of HP characters will be OOC, because I can't write them and because their roles will be quite different than the ones from the original plot. I hope I can do FMA characters better, though not many will be appearing, at least I don't plan for many to appear.

Disclaimer: I own neither FMA nor HP and their respective characters and plots.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Edward Elric stood in the middle of an underground, abandoned city, in a huge hall, right in the center of an unusually large transmutation circle. He knew that reviving his brother would require no less than his own life as payment to the gate, but he was willing to sacrifice himself for him. As he placed his hands on his chest, light flashed from the intricately designed circle beneath his feet. No sooner had he activated the transmutation, a gigantic black gate appeared before him, also known as the truth or true knowledge. It opened up to reveal millions of tiny black wiggly hands, that shot out of the gate the moment after it opened, eager to take their prey. They grabbed Ed and pulled him beyond the gate, which closed afterwards with barely a sound.

* * *

It was a rainy day after work and Eva Brown, a policewoman in London, finished up her work in her office, packed her bag, grabbed it and walked out of the building, towards her car. It had been a boring day as usual, although she didn't want to complain, she was happy that it was peaceful. She got in and started driving home. Since it was raining there weren't many people outside, especially since she had worked overtime again. She preferred doing that than getting up early in the morning.

As the policewoman drove, she passed a lump of _something _on the pavement. It struck her as weird so she stopped the car near the side and got out to see what it was. She was shocked to find boy lying outside on the wet ground in this weather. Eva walked up to him to check if he was alive and was relieved when she confirmed he was indeed alive. She touched his forehead and wasn't too surprised when she found out the boy had a fever. Who knows how long he had been lying there. Miss Brown lifted him up and put him lying down on the back seat of her car. She wondered where his parents were. Maybe they abandoned him, or maybe he ran away. But what if he didn't have any? She vaguely wondered how old he was, most likely around 8-9 or so...

* * *

Ed was only half awake when he smelled the air around him; it reminded him of...a hospital? He blinked a few times before he sat up and looked at his surroundings. The room was white... in fact, everything was white, even the sky was white because of the clouds. He was right, it was a hospital. The young alchemist sat there for a while, wondering how he got here and if Al was alright. He seriously hoped he was alright, but there was nothing he could do to find out in the moment. His gaze shifted slightly and he saw his red travel cloak, his pocket watch and his shirt and pants on a chair. The boots lay on the floor. When he got up, he noticed a mirror and could only stare at it in horror. He looked, dare he say it, _shorter_. Ed stood there for a while staring at the image the mirror showed. _'Why in the world do I look like I did when I was 9? At least I still have the limbs that Al gave back to me. Damn... Now my clothes are too big for me._' Just after he thought that, he heard voices outside his room and quickly climbed back into the bed.

"So, doctor how is he?" asked a feminine voice.

"He's alright, I checked on him this morning and he seems to have recovered from his fever already." replied another voice, probably the doctor.

"That's good." the first voice said, as the door was opened.

Both of them were quite visibly a little shocked that he was awake. After seeing him awake Eva Brown quickly asked the doctor if she could speak to him alone. The Doctor nodded and left the room. She closed the door softly and made her way to a chair that was beside his bed. Unsure what was about to happen next he just watched her.

She sat down and said: "Hello, my name is Eva Brown, what's yours?"

She seemed to be staring at his eyes, it unnerved him a little, but it must have been because people didn't normally have golden eyes. For a moment he just stared at her and said nothing, then he decided to tell her the truth: "Edward Elric" Ed hoped she wouldn't ask too many questions, but he was already mentally preparing himself for the dialogue to come.

"Alright Edward, where do you live?"

Oh crap, he hadn't thought of an answer for that one yet. "Uhh, I don't know..." the blond decided to say. 'Good thing I look like a kid... I should probably be a bit more polite.'

"Oh okay, do you know where your parents are?"

"Nope" he replied and added: "Why are you asking me all these questions miss Brown?"

The policewoman sighed and told him that she found him on the streets last night and brought him here. Oh so, that must have been where the gate dropped him off at.

"How old are you, Edward?" She continued

"Err... 9..." He guessed.

"When's your birthday?"

"3. Fabruary"

"Do you know your parents' names?"

He thought a bit before answering. His father might still be around. His mother on the other hand, had never been here. If he told the policewoman her name, then some other woman might be getting a little surprise visit. He decided to go with the option: "My fathers name is Hohenheim Elric. I don't know my mum's name..." It was lame, but she would probably believe it.

"Alright, thanks for cooperating, I'll come back tomorrow." With that she left him there.

* * *

"Edward?" That Brown woman was the one who opened his door. From his bed Ed shifted his gaze towards her. The doctor told him not to get out of bed unless he really needed to.

"I'm here." He answered. She closed the door and sat on the same chair as the other day.

"Are you feeling better?"

"I'm fine." _'just tired of you.'_ he thought, but didn't say anything.

"That's good..." She trailed off, frowning at him a little.

It pissed him off so he said: "Would you mind not staring? It's rude."

"Oh! Sorry, I was just kind of deep in thought." When he looked at her questioningly, she elaborated. "Well, I looked up the people born 9 years ago and couldn't find you. You weren't in the citizen registry as well. I looked for your father as well, but..." She halted for a bit, as if needing time to prepare for what she was about to say. "Well, I found him in a list of people who died a while ago." she gave him a small smile. "You have no idea how long it took me to go through all those documents..." Then she sighed and spoke in a quieter tone. "He died in 1981, that means 8 years ago."

"He... Died?" He looked at her in disbelief, but she must have interpreted that wrongly.

"I know, how you must be feeling. It's hard, but I'm sure he moved on to a better place." He nodded at her slowly, then he remembered something.

"What's today's date?"

"Hmm? Oh, wait... It's the 28. July 1989."_ 'So does means I'm in the future of the place I was in last time...'  
_  
"How did you get on the street anyway?" Brown asked him.

"I don't remember..." He said, hoping she would believe him. _'Argh, this is getting annoying. Why can't she just leave me alone?'_

"Well, I guess I'm going to put you in an orphanage then" she said.

The golden eyed boy just blankly stared at her and in his mind he was screaming: '_NOOOOOOOOO..._' but he couldn't really argue with her.

As much as Ed hated the idea, he couldn't really give her a reason why she shouldn't put him in an orphanage, it's not like a 'kid' as 'old' as him could take care of himself (although he very well could, if he wanted to) and he didn't have any money.

* * *

2 days later and Edward Elric, the Fullmetal alchemist found himself in... an orphanage. Just great. Sigh, at least he had his own room. That weird woman from the hospital put him here and he hoped he never had to see her again. He finally concluded his body must have indeed reverted to the time when he was 9 years old and he even found proof. First of all he believed to have been... 'a little less tall' when he was 8 and second of all his body didn't feel like it went through his teachers hard training when he was 10... So that leaves him with 9. He had concluded this in the two days before he got here.

Now in this very moment a woman who worked at the orphanage was showing Ed around the place. He absentmindedly noted where the important places were such as: kitchen, eating place, toilet, exit, and of course his room, where the tour ended. She told him what time they would be eating everyday and also that he would be going to school starting next week.

Another fun factor in his new found life. Starting next week, he would be a 4th grader all over again. Sigh, but he had to try his best not to seem too suspicious. He didn't want people spying on him. This would mean... he had to make sure he didn't get perfect grades every time. The only upside would be that most likely the school would have a library, which would mean he could have books to read.

The woman left him and he entered his room. Although it didn't have much, just a bed, a cupboard, a desk and a desk lamp, he found it pretty cozy. He opened the cupboard and found some clothes in it. He added his oversized travel cloak, boots, shirt and pants to those already in there.

Okay, now that nobody was watching the young alchemist, there was something he had to try out for himself. He closed the curtains and door. Clapped his hands together and touched his desk. A blue light flashed, as he pulled a stick from it, leaving behind an indention on the desk. He held the stick in his hands and blinked. So it seems that alchemy _does_ work. That was good, although using it in front of people would probably make them think he was some kind of evil sorcerer. He would have to get by without using it, although if he would get into trouble, it could save him. Edward placed the stick back on the table and put his hands together gently, not wanting to make too much noise, and transmuted the table and stick back to normal. Since it was almost time to go to bed (at least for a 9 year old), he flopped himself onto his bed and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Somewhere in a dark place…

"What do you want?" A hissing voice said.

The woman in front of him bowed down nearly touching the floor with her head and replied: "I came across something very peculiar today at work: While I was monitoring spells casted by underage wizards out of Hogwarts, a strange signal that I've never felt before caught my attention. It wasn't like any normal magic, it felt rather dark. I kept it a secret from the ministry. What shall I do, my lord?"

"This sounds interesting… Find this person and watch him or her, he or she might be useful in the future. Do not speak of me, at least not yet." The hissing voice said again.

"It shall be done, my lord." Was the reply and the person stood and walked away.

* * *

A/N: Oh yes! I nearly forgot. Thanks a lot to SaphiraIce for reading and correcting my horrible mistakes. Feel free to review if you have time.


	2. Parchment?

A/N I put it on our profile, but I don't think many people go there, so I'll put it here as well. I'll be updating once a week, because I don't have time to write more than one chapter a week. On another note... I know my vocabulary is a little limited and my grammar isn't perfect, but I hope it's not too bad.

Thanks a lot to: Lord Rebecca-Sama and Abhorsen21 for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you recognize. They belong to J.K. Rowling and Hiromu Arakawa respectively. If I did, the stories would have turned out pretty lame... Both of them are awesome at plotting.

Okay, I'm done blabbering, here's the next chapter.

* * *

"This is Edward Elric, he'll be in your class from now on, please try and be nice to him" the teacher said in a monotone voice.

He faced the blond and said: "You can sit in the back over there" and pointed to a seat beside a boy with huge round glasses.

Ed wordlessly walked to his seat. Just after the teacher started the lesson, the glasses-kid said: "Hi, I'm Harry. Want to be friends?"

The golden eyed boy smiled at him a little and said: "Sure, you can call me Ed, 'cause Edward sounds too formal."

The class continued until recess, where they were 'allowed' to go outside of all places, or rather forced to. Ed would have preferred to stay inside with one of the school books. '_Maybe it would be good to get along with Harry, he seems friendly enough_', he thought. So it happened that in recess they both were sitting on swings and talking.

"Do you like this school, Ed?" Harry asked.

"I guess it's quite okay." Ed said truthfully.

If he was going to get a friend then he had to talk about something and school term just started so... "Did you enjoy your holidays?" He asked.

"Well, not really..." was all Harry could say before Dudley and his gang arrived.

"So, trying to make friends with the new kid huh? Hahahaha, you're so _lame_ Harry, I bet since he's your friend he'd like to get beat up as well!"

Dudley was about to punch Harry in the face, when Ed pulled Harry's arm so hard, Harry almost fell to the floor. By the time Dudley realized what was happening, Ed had pulled Harry and started running toward the building, once inside he continued pulling Harry 'round a few corners and up a set of stairs, all the way to a door, opened it, dragged Harry inside and shut the door.

"Whew, who was that? Is he always like that?" Ed whispered.

"Yeah he is. He's my cousin. Him, my uncle and aunt have been making my life to hell for the past years. I live with them" He replied in a whisper as well, just after they heard Dudley and his gang run past the room they were in.

It was a storage room, an extremely small one, Ed thought and said: "What happened to your parents?"

Harry looked to the ground with a sad expression. "My aunt said that they died in a car accident that also gave me this scar." he said and showed his scar to Ed.

"Wow a lightning shaped scar is not something you see often huh?" Ed said. "My parents are dead too..." He added and looked sadly to the floor. If Harry told him something like that, equivalent exchange would have to be made on his side. The two of them spent the rest of recess in that room talking about things; life and such. Ed made sure only to reveal vague things about his past.

* * *

After school was over Ed said bye to Harry and walked home. '_Man, I really should start training myself again. Maybe next time I can punch that stupid fatso in the gut..._' He thought as he made his way back to the orphanage, which as it turned out wasn't such a bad place. He got his bag and clothes from there, although they were probably old ones. The orphanage also gave him food. Not to mention he had a room where he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he didn't make too much noise.

When the young alchemist got back, he took some books, which he borrowed from the library at school, out of his bag and started reading while doing exercises, just like Izumi thought him. She was a harsh teacher, but in the moment he really missed her, in fact he missed everything from back home. He was definitely going back home. He swore to himself, he would do whatever it takes. The books he borrowed were mostly about geography, math and about technology. He didn't want to look stupid by not knowing what those hi-tech devices were that seemed to be extremely common, that and they might come in handy.

He stopped his training some time before dinner so he could take a shower. While showering he felt all his muscles ache. He would have to get used to it again, he told himself and finished up. Dinner was over and he went to bed. In bed he felt his muscles ache even more than before and thought that, maybe he overdid it for one day.

* * *

Over the next ¾ year Ed and Harry became pretty good friends and Dudley stopped bullying Harry when Ed was around, because he learned that if he tried that he'd get a black eye and a bloody nose. Harry told Ed about some strange things that happened to him and about how, he noticed, they usually happened when he was angry. Ed noticed that on the rare occasions when someone decided to make him mad (short jokes and the like) strange things would happen as well, aside from the person getting a bloody nose that is.

Edward had continued training everyday to keep himself fit. He had also read most of the non-storybook books. And knew how computers and such worked. He found it pretty amazing, then again automail worked in a similar fashion and he admired Winry even more for understanding all those complex things. Not that he didn't understand it, but he himself thought it was thanks to seeing the things within the gate.

Aside from everyday life, on his birthday the orphanage had made him a small birthday cake, but they didn't make a big celebration out of it or anything. Harry couldn't give him a present because he didn't have any money, not that Ed really wanted a present anyway. 3 days before the summer holidays, just before he went to school the worker at the orphanage gave him a letter, saying it was addressed to him. '_That's strange, who would send me a letter? I hardly talk to anyone and as far as I know Harry isn't allowed to write letters._' On the envelope it said:

Mr. E. Elric

The orphanage, Room number 18

Little Whinging

Surrey

He decided to wait until recess to open it.

* * *

During recess the two of them would still go back to the small storage room that they had hidden in the first time, out of habit, maybe. When he took it out and showed it to Harry, Harry looked like he couldn't believe his eyes and said quickly: "I got a letter that looks like that too! But… I couldn't open it because my uncle tore it to pieces. The first one came a few days ago, and ever since my uncle tore it up, more and more have been coming."

Ed frowned a bit. '_Weird_' he thought.

"Open it up! It's probably the same one as I received." Harry said, he sounded extremely excited. So Ed did. Inside of it was a piece of paper or rather, _parchment_ of all things. It read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Elric,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress

The 2nd page said:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM  
First-year students will require:  
sets of plain work robes (black)  
plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)  
by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration

by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi  
by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions

by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  
by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection  
by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

'_What the hell man…_' Ed thought.

He turned to Harry, who wasn't completely finished with reading and asked: "Do you believe this letter Harry?" Harry who had just finished the letter looked thoughtful.

"Well…It would explain why the glass at that snake's cage just disappeared… and the other things as well of course…"

"But magic can't really exist, can it?" Ed asked, not really expecting an answer. If magic was real, then were all the sacrifices he made for naught?

* * *

The woman grinned she was finally able to locate where the strange source of 'dark' magic came from. Usually the ministry's system was extremely accurate, but it failed to give her a location this one time. But now she finally found the person. He or she hadn't done anything at all since the first time, but the person finally did something again and since she acted immediately this time, she was able to find out where the person was. She decided to head there the next day. Since it was an orphanage, maybe it would seem less suspicious if she brought her husband with her…

* * *

A/N I know this chapter is extremely short, but I think they'll get longer. I'd love to know what people think, so if you have time you could let me know.


	3. A Castle?

A/N: Thanks a lot to following reviewers: Lord Rebecca-Sama, TristaDin, Andrea Perrigo ! You're all very motivating!

To Lord Rebecca-Sama: So sorry to disappoint you, Ed doesn't get to kick ass, yet.

This question was swimming around in my head... Did you (the readers) read the Hogwarts letter? Oh and I don't own the letter either. If the source I got it from was right, then it is exactly the same as the one from the book. (I don't have the book in English, so I can't be sure.)

Disclaimer: I don't own! If I did, my self-portrait would be a bespectacled cow and/or I'd be super rich! Seeing as neither statement is true, I don't own...

* * *

Soon the holidays started and Edward lost contact with Harry because the Dursleys didn't want the neighbors seeing him. Or maybe the letters got too much and they went somewhere on holiday.

Anyway… He couldn't stand the nerve of school kids! They actually ripped pages out of a book and just replaced it in the library! After seeing it, the young prodigy had borrowed the book, brought it back to his room sorted the pages out and used alchemy to fix it back to the cover, which happened yesterday.

Now, since the blond had nothing better to do, he started reading it. To his surprise it was a storybook, he would have thought that school kids would only rip out pages of some math book or something, especially since he found it quite amusing. It was about a foolish king and his washerwoman who was a witch. He had to smirk to himself, the washerwoman was very clever. While reading it, he thought about that letter again. He had brooded over the existence of magic for a few days. It wasn't possible that magic existed right? If it did then would all the sacrifices that he and his brother made have been pointless? One thing Ed did know was that life was not and never will be fair, especially to him. Although, if it did indeed exist, maybe he could find a way to go back home with magic… Different world, different means, right? Even though the idea of magic still seemed plain stupid to him, Ed decided if he could see it with his own two eyes, then no matter how much his brain told him it couldn't exist he would believe that it was true.

Shortly after Ed decided to go outside and take a nap in the sunlight, it wasn't healthy to stay cooped up in the room the whole time after all. So he took a nap in the shade of a tree outside. He slept a few hours, until some voices woke him up. '_No way… that can't be…can it?_' He opened his eyes and saw the caretaker, a man and a woman, a couple maybe? They were facing away from him, but just seeing the color of the woman's hair made his eyes go wide, long flowing beautiful chestnut brown hair. '_No way, mum?_' Ed asked himself, frantically blinking sleep out of his eyes. They were talking. What were they talking about? _'Wait_ what_? They want to adopt_ me_? What the… oh yeah, I'm in an orphanage after all…_'

When the three of them turned around and started walking towards him, his eyes went even wider if one could believe it possible. Beside her stood… Al. Even though he was older than Ed had ever seen him, his facial features were the same, now that he thought about it the hair was the same as well… He hadn't seen his hair for such a long time because he had been a suit of armor. When they reached him, he was practically staring at them with an open mouth, the woman bent down and said: "Hello, I'm Trisha Knight and this is my husband Alphonse, from today on you're going to live with us, alright? We'll be leaving as soon as you get your stuff." She was smiling. Damn, all he could do was nod, get up and sprint to his room. God, he could have sworn his heart stopped beating for a moment.

* * *

While the golden eyed boy was packing all of his stuff, Trisha arrived in front of his room. Her husband had gone with the caretaker to fill out some forms. From there she saw the Hogwarts acceptance letter lying on the desk.

'_Oh right, if he's a wizard then he would be going to Hogwarts, since he would be turning 11 during the school year, in Fabruary. I have to make sure I treat him nicely, so that he will willingly come to the dark side… I wonder how I'm going to ask him about the thing he did, he is a child after all. What's up with his eyes though? Light brown's okay, but I have never heard of or seen eyes so gold in my life. Plus, they look kind of weird, I can't quite place it, sorrow maybe? Nah can't be. That kid can't have seen enough sadness to have that kind of an expression in his eyes._'

* * *

_'Old clothes, checked. State alchemist pocket watch, checked...'_ Ed looked around his room for anything he might have forgotten, he then saw the letter on the table and quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into his pants pocket. "I'm ready." He told the woman who resembled his mother. He almost added mum but stopped himself. He walked out of the small room. The caretaker who was also standing there told him she would return the books he borrowed from school for him. Somehow this all felt really weird to him, but he decided to ignore it for now. Both of them allowed him to call them by their names. Trisha held out her hand to him and he gladly grabbed it. Alphonse, her husband, chuckled and all three of them said a good-bye to the caretaker and walked out of the building.

_'I wonder where they live, should I ask?_' While he was pondering this question, they had walked into an alleyway with a dead end.

He was about to ask what they were doing here, when she said: "Make sure to hold on tight, it might be a bit uncomfortable the first time."

Before he knew what was going on he felt Trisha's arm pull him, so he gripped tighter. Then there was a sensation as if some unknown force was trying to squeeze him enough so that he fit into a tissue box and he could hardly breathe. Suddenly it all ended and he awkwardly stepped forward, it looked like he tripped over something, but caught himself before he fell on to the ground.

"Oh hahaha, traveling this way takes some getting used to. Are you alright, Ed?" The adult Alphonse said while smiling.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" the blond muttered.

True enough they had 'traveled' somewhere: They were standing on what seemed to be an entry path leading to a house so big, Ed imagined it could have easily been considered a castle. On both sides of the path, stone pillars stood parallel to each other with equal distance, and around the castle there was a wild and messy lawn. Behind him was a huge gate with a beautiful flower pattern which connected to a stone wall, at least double Edward's size, that encircled the gardens. Ivy grew on the pillars, the castle, the gate and the wall. Beyond the wall Ed saw many trees, most likely a forest. They were definitely not in the city anymore. As much as he didn't want to believe it, he did tell himself he was going to believe it if he saw it.

"Was that magic?" He asked still a bit dumbstruck after staring at everything there was to stare at. Somehow this place was what he always imagined Dracula's castle looked like, minus the mountain.

"Yep, and I see starting September 1st you'll be going to Hogwarts to learn magic." Trisha said while smiling to him and added: "Would you give me your letter? Tomorrow when you are rested we could go and buy your school supplies."

Ed nodded and fished it out of his pockets. They walked into the house and Alphonse took Ed to his room while Trisha went off somewhere into the vast reaches of the house.

"It doesn't have much, but if you need anything we can get it for you." Alphonse said to Ed when they reached his room.

It was gigantic compared to his room in the orphanage. The bed looked as if it were twice the size of the other bed. There was a huge wardrobe that looked extremely elegant and a dark-wooded desk. Even though he didn't spend a lot of time researching wood, Ed's mind quickly fetched the information on its chemical composition, but he couldn't name the wood, he didn't have too much interest in timber before. A mirror stood at the wall, big enough to completely reflect something four times his size. There was a huge window, from which he could see the forest and the lawn. He lay on his bed for a while, wondering if magic had limits.

When someone knocked on his door. He opened it up and saw no one. Then he looked down and jumped back. Before him stood the weirdest creature he had ever seen before. It was short, way too short for Ed to be comfortable, with pointy ears, dark skin and huge, and he meant _really_ huge, eyes. For some strange reason it was dressed in rags though. _'A Chimera!?'_ was the only thought that screamed through his head at the sight of the creature.

Ed blinked a few times, when the creature said: "The mistress and master will be having dinner shortly. Please allow Elmar to bring you to the dining room." the weird little thing half shrieked.

"Uhh... Okay, Elmar." Ed said.

On the way they passed several halls with paintings hanging on them. The weirdest thing about them was that they _moved. _Ed was pretty freaked out by it, but decided that it wouldn't be wise to start screaming around. He found that until now nobody had insulted his height, so he didn't want to make them mad at him. Before long they reached their destination and the little whatever-it-was opened the door for him and bowed slightly signaling him to enter, so he did.

The room was pretty big. A chandelier was hanging from the ceiling, illuminating every corner of the room. The walls were clad in green tapestry, decorated with patterns that reminded him of snakes. The room only had one door, namely the one Ed came in from. It was in the middle of the longer wall of the rectangle shaped room. In the center of the room stood a long elegant looking table, but only the front was set with silverware. On two of the many likewise elegant chairs sat none other than Trisha and Alphonse themselves. Both of them were smiling at him and he couldn't help but smile back as he walked towards them and took a seat on an extremely comfy chair.

The young alchemist looked down at the plate seeing his own reflection. He must have looked like something was bothering him because Alphonse asked him if something in the house had piqued his interest, having never before been exposed to the magical world, and told him that he could ask away. At first he was hesitant, but then decided to ask about the little creature and about the paintings.

"The creature is a house-elf, they are like servants to us wizards, they try to signify that by only wearing rags and they don't even want to wash themselves unless you tell them to. They can perform magic, although it is different from ours, seeing as they don't need wands. Being without any rights, there are many people who mistreat their house-elves. They will do anything their master asks of them, until they are set free." Alphonse chuckled and added:

"We've set quite a few free ourselves. They were 'passed down' to me by my parents and longed to be set free, so we let them go. The ones still working in the house didn't want freedom so they stayed here. As for the paintings, well they were bewitched to move. It's like an everyday wizard thing, even the photos in the newspaper move, although they are quite different from the portraits. Portraits have a will of their own; you can talk to them like normal people. Photographs will just keep repeating an action over and over again. Alright now it's time to eat."

Trisha clapped her hands together twice and the food appeared on his table. He glared at the food for a moment, barely closing his mouth after it dropped open at his surprise. The two adults smiled and started eating and Ed wasn't far behind. Although he found it somewhat cruel that house-elves worked like that he guessed if they were offered the chance to be free and didn't take it, perhaps they liked serving people? The meal was absolutely delicious. Trisha told him that the house-elf who made it had been her family's cook for as long as she could remember and they told him he could use anything in the kitchen whenever he wanted to, for whatever reasons. As such he often spent his time cooking and trying new recipes with other house-elves. She also told Ed that from now on, Elmar would be his to command, if he so wished. After dinner the golden eyed kid went to bed, exhausted from the day's events.

* * *

A/N review if you feel like!


	4. A Deadend?

A/N Thank you for your review: KuroiWing, TristaDin, Red Dawn Rising, Anonymous!

I assure all of you that Alphonse is not Voldemort.

Thank you Anonymous reviewer for pointing out my mistakes!

If you want you can reread chapter 1 and 3, because I edited them a bit.

Disclaimer: I thought of a wonderful disclaimer this morning, but now I can't remember what it was. I only remember that it contained something like: I do not own. But that can't be right, right?

* * *

Even though Ed was tired he couldn't sleep so well because Alphonse would be bringing him to 'Diagon Ally' the next day, as Trisha couldn't take leave from her job, because it was so sudden. So the '10' year old woke up extremely early. He got out of bed and changed up. It seems like Trisha had gone and bought him a robe for everyday use along with some 'muggle' clothes and shoes (which he would later find out was to get to the right platform inconspicuously) when they arrived. On his way out of the room he stopped and looked at the mirror.

Over the year that he was in this world he had grown his hair long again, so he started braiding it. At first he thought maybe there was a way through the gate with modern technology, so he had tried to find out as much as possible about those things and as it turned out he couldn't find anything that might have been connected to the gate in any way. Just when he was about to give up, the world of magic opened up before him. Could magic be connected to the gate? Could he find a way home? Many more questions buzzed through his head.

Finally, after standing there staring at the mirror for who knows how long, Ed tore his eyes away from it and made his way down into the dining room. Elmar was standing there polishing silverware. When she saw him enter she bowed to him and asked him what he would like to eat. He told her anything was fine and she disappeared, presumably into the kitchen. He took a seat feeling slightly awkward. A little later she appeared again with a plate of various bite-sized buns filled with all sorts of things, and placed it on the table, Elmar bowed again and resumed polishing the silver spoon she had been polishing before he came. He said thanks after a moment of hesitation and then started eating. He had never had anyone serve him like that before and frankly he felt extremely strange letting the little elf get food for him.

His breakfast was delicious, and to his great delight after he finished he was served a cup of...orange juice! You could almost say it made his day. The thought never even occurred to the elf to serve milk! It may have seemed like not a big deal to anyone else. But everyone always tried to make him drink the horrible liquid that was _secreted_ from a cow after breakfast. He felt a burst of joy and apparently the house-elf noticed this as she smiled, although she probably couldn't fathom the reason. He quickly took the cup and swallowed the contents. Well it was more of a goblet but who cares?

Since Alphonse was apparently sleeping the alchemist asked the house-elf if there was a library or a study room and if he could read some books. She gladly dropped her work and accompanied him there. The library was big, not what he expected of a family library. She told him he could read any of the books he wanted to read. He nodded, picked up a book titled _Asiatic Anti-Venoms_ and started reading. He thought if he was going to start reading books about magic, then he might as well start with something he was familiar with, something that, at least from what he could imagine, had rules and formals. It seemed Elmar was trying to say something but by that time he was already completely lost in the book.

* * *

When he finished the book, which didn't take so long actually, he looked up to try and get the time, he was shocked to find Alphonse sitting there smiling at him.

"Good morning, how long have you been there?" Ed asked sheepishly.

"Good morning. Don't worry, I wasn't here very long. Maybe 10 minutes? I tried to tell you that I'm ready to go, but you didn't hear anything I said. So I decided to wait for you to finish. I must say you read faster than I've ever read." He replied still smiling. "Well? Shall we get going?"

They left for Diagon Ally using the same horrible teleportation, which Alphonse told Edward was Apparition. This time though he landed on his feet, standing perfectly straight and he didn't feel as bad during the whole thing. Perhaps it really was a matter of getting used to. They had appeared beside a huge chimney, big enough for someone 3 times Ed's size to fit in, in a dusty looking bar. There were a lot of people in there who were wearing robes and pointy hats. Alphonse took his hand and walked through the bar without looking left or right. His face was strangely serious. _'Keeping up appearances?'_ Ed thought wondering if Alphonse was a politically or some-other-way important person.

While the blond was being pulled by the hand he saw lots of practical magic: a Spoon was stirring tea on its own, some rags were wiping glasses and he also glimpsed how a picture moved on a newspaper. It was a little unnerving, but he supposed he would have to get used to it.

He looked forward to see a door being opened by his guide, and they walked through it. What he found on the other side was a... dead end with nothing other than a dustbin...wow... Why in the world would anyone make a dead end like this?

Seemingly reading his thoughts Alphonse explained: "It's kind of like a protection to make sure non-magical people also known as muggles don't find out about the wizarding world."

He took out his wand and tapped a brick above the dustbin, three up and two across, three times. It might be important to remember so the blond did. Alphonse had explained to him that this was the biggest and almost only place you could get magical things in and around London. Only very few people sold magical things outside this area because, firstly everybody comes here to shop so other places wouldn't get business and secondly it was less likely that muggles would learn of their existence if they sold their goods here. The stone bricks started to rearrange themselves to form an archway into a bustling street full of wizards. This street was so crowded that from a birds view it must have looked like water molecules were moving down a river.

"Follow close behind me. You don't want to get lost on your first visit. We're heading to the bank first, we don't keep an awful lot of money in the house, so we'll have to go and withdraw some."

They walked further down the street. There were a lot of interesting things to see and smell. There were all sorts of shops and nearly all of them seemed to be crowded with people. After a while they reached a snow white building that towered over all the small shops. Ed briefly wondered why muggles didn't see it, a spell perhaps.

"Oh yeah, just so you don't upset the workers, I'll tell you that they are goblins and they are very, how shall we say, distrustful beings and they feel insulted very fast. And you do not want to upset them. So just try to act normal okay?"

Alphonse warned before they walked up the stairs. At the top stood a goblin with fingers as long as Ed had never seen before, the nails were just as bad. All in all it looked ugly and made Ed's brain scream _'chimera!'_, but he tried his best to act normal. The goblin stood in front of a huge bronze door. It bowed and showed them the way in. Another Gate like door towered over them, this time it was silver. There was some kind of rhyme engraved in the door, it read:

_Enter, stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed_  
_For those who take, but do not earn,_  
_Must pay most dearly in their turn._  
_So if you seek beneath our floors_  
_A treasure that was never yours, _  
_Thief, you have been warned, beware_  
_Of finding more than treasure there._More than treasure? Were they saying they had a trap down there for thieves? Alphonse walked through the doors into a giant Marble hall. The hall was filled with goblins behind counters all in a row. Some were counting coins, others writing and yet others were weighing and looking at large and tiny jewels. They walked all the way up to one of the last counters; there were lesser people there as no one wanted to walk so far.

The goblin looked up from the parchment he was scribbling on and asked almost impatiently: "Yes? May I help you?"

Alphonse kept a cool head as if he was used to it: "Yes please. I'd like to draw some money from vault number 196." While he said that he took out his key to show the goblin and noticed it seemed to be looking at Ed. The golden eyed boy noticed as well, but heeded his guardian's words and did nothing out of the ordinary.

"One moment please." The Goblin replied and turned around, apparently got off his seat and rummaged in one of the drawers behind him pulling out a small sheet of paper.

Attached to it with a paper clip was another smaller piece of paper, with that in hand it came back to the front of the counter, stood on his chair and prompted Ed to come closer. Ed looked at Alphonse for reassurance and when he nodded, the blond stepped forward. The goblin seemed to study his features very carefully, in fact it was a little disturbing. Just before Ed could tell the goblin to get out of his face, almost literally, it moved away. "I'll be right back." It said, without giving an explanation and hopped off the chair once more and left the main hall through a small door, leaving them standing there confused.

A little while later the same goblin came back through the door and climbed back onto the chair. He brought a key and an envelope and passed it to the blond.

"A man by the name of Hohenheim of Light died a while back and left everything in his vault to a person by the name of Edward Elric, I trust you are Edward?" The goblin explained and also gave him the papers; Ed nodded to answer the question.

One of it was Hohenheim's will stating he had left everything to Ed and the one attached to it was a picture of when they were kids. The whole family was on it. Meanwhile Alphonse's eyes grew wide. Hohenheim was not exactly famous, but he did a lot, really a lot of extensive research on all sorts of things. Most of his research was extremely accurate. Well, at least those he published. It was known that Hohenheim didn't publish a lot of his research, just enough to earn enough to survive.

"Umm... Can we go into this vault too?" Ed asked, his voice was unusually squeaky today, making him curse it mentally.

Alphonse nodded and the goblin called over another goblin, whose name Ed was too distracted to notice. What could Hohenheim have possibly left for him? If that guy knew of magic and couldn't get back to the other side, did that mean it was impossible? Or was he simply too old and couldn't finish his research or knew he couldn't pass through the gate without losing his life? The other goblin led them through a door while the first one went back to scribbling. The other side of the door looked like a cave. Stalagmites and stalactites were sticking out from almost everywhere. They walked towards a cart and Alphonse's mood seemed to have improved a great deal.

"Here comes the fun part." he said smiling.

They all got into the cart and it started zooming down. There were a great deal of turns and wanting to distract his mind he started memorizing them. After a long ride the cart stopped and being the genius that he was he remembered everything perfectly, it was only slightly more difficult than the school work, not enough to really get his brain working, but enough to keep his mind focused.

They got out and walked towards one of the huge doors that lined the cave-like hall. The goblin stuck his hand out and Alphonse gave him the key. He put it in the tiny keyhole and twisted it a little, then pulled it out. The doors slid to the side with a loud groaning kind of noise. Inside was a quite an extensive amount of gold, silver and bronze coins neatly sorted and stacked filling at least half if not more of the room. On some of the shelves there were what looked like artifacts placed almost carelessly in comparison to the coins. Alphonse walked in and carefully removed the top quarter of one stack of gold coins, then some silver ones and then some bronze ones. He put them all in a leather pouch he took out of his robes and walked out again. Ed was pretty sure the pouch couldn't possibly hold that many coins, but by now he was willing to pass it off as a 'magic thing'. The goblin closed the door again, returning the key to its owner.

They went back into the cart and drove further down for a while. Ed's vault number was 625. Funny though, it was the square root of 25, which was again the square root of 5. As they went further down Ed saw a dragon breathing fire. He definitely saw it. It was a dragon. That must have been what the poem on the silver gate was talking about. He briefly wondered how the workers keep it under control; he didn't think dragons were very tame creatures. Maybe it followed their orders. They stopped and got out. The goblin repeated the process of opening the door and Ed looked inside.

'_Just like him._' Ed thought.

Inside the vault were mountains of books all written by Hohenheim, judging by name on the covers. Furthermore mountains of scrolls were lying around in what resembled a junk hill. The blond knew he wouldn't be able to read let alone take all of them out now. But one particular book caught his eye. It didn't have anything on the side. He picked it up and found nothing on the cover. Only when he opened it he noticed what it was. It was Hohenheim's journal. This would probably be the most useful one of all the books in here. He took it out with him and Alphonse didn't question him for which he was grateful. The door was closed again and they headed towards the cart. Ed put the book in one of his robe's pockets. They went up again with the cart.

* * *

They got out without any other occurrences.

"Well let's get you your books first." Alphonse said, breaking the silence.

They went over to a book shop named flourish and blots. The name was strange indeed, he hoped it didn't imply that the books were covered in blots, then again he wondered if all the books were hand written, the one he'd read in the house was. Alphonse told him he'd go and get all the school books and he could look around if he wanted to. So he did, but he wasn't going to read them. He knew what happened when he picked up books and started reading, so he just looked around a bit. Soon he saw Alphonse move towards the counter with a stack of books. He approached it and saw how he took out a few gold coins and the clerk returned him a few silver and bronze ones. Alphonse turned around and Ed went and took some books off of him.

"Thanks!" Alphonse said and Ed decided now was the best time to ask. "Hey, umm... could you explain the currency to me?"

"Oh yeah, sure thing I totally forgot. Well the gold ones are galleons, the silver ones are sickles and the bronze ones are knuts. There are 29 knuts to a sickle and 17 sickles to a galleon. It might be confusing at the start, but you'll get used to it. In muggle currency 1 galleon is about...hmm...£5 I think." Wow £5 was quite a bit of money. That means the books must have cost quite a bit. "Well, we can't carry everything so I guess we should buy your trunk next."

So next they went to buy a trunk, and then they went to get garments at madam Malkins, who commented that Edward was short, which got his vein pulsing. Luckily for the shop owner Alphonse said that height didn't determine the brilliance of a person (wizard, but Ed preferred to think person), which calmed the golden eyed boy down somewhat. After that they got a cauldron, a set of glass phials, a telescope and a set of brass scales in that order. Next they were going to get a wand. He really, really could NOT imagine himself swinging a stick around.

The shop looked dusty and empty from outside, not like all the other shops. Above the entrance were words in faded gold: Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. '_Man... 382 B.C.? That is a god damned long time... Hopefully the owner isn't that old._' Ed thought. They entered the dusty looking shop. The front of the shop was pretty empty, save for the counter and a chair, in the back though, countless long thin rectangular boxes were piled to the top of the ceiling on each other. After a while an old man came out from the back of the shop. His hair was white, nearly as white as the Gringotts' walls, and his eyes, which were somewhat murky looking, had a pale silver colour. That was almost as uncommon as his golden eyes he noted.

The man looked at him and said: "Good afternoon, would you be Mr. Edward Elric?"

Ed nodded.

"Your father had the exact same eyes as you. 14 inches, Hazel, Unicorn tail hair. A fine wand." Ollivander, Ed presumed, started nodding to himself. "Well I guess you're here for a wand. Would you please stick out your wand arm?"

He turned around and started looking for some box, while measuring equipment floated up and seemingly randomly measured all his body parts.

"Ah, this one might do it." he took out a wand commented on its characteristics, gave it to Ed and told him to swish it.

Ed who felt super stupid in that moment was about to swing it, when the old man snatched it from him, muttering something sounding like: "No, no, that won't do."

This same process repeated itself for quite a long time. Until Ollivander seemed to frown at the young alchemist for a while. During the moment of silence soft snores could be heard in the back. Alphonse must have sat on the chair and fallen asleep. Truthfully speaking Ed also wanted to sit and sleep, he had been standing there for who-knows-how-long, never really getting to swing the wand. Except once where he swung it and one of the wands he had already tried exploded. Of course he wasn't aiming in that direction, it was lying behind him, when it exploded. After the pause extended for a while Alphonse seemed to wake up.

"Excuse me, I must have fallen asleep. What happened?"

Ollivander looked a bit embarrassed, as his gaze shifted to the floor. "I'm very sorry to say sir, although it is certain this boy has magical potential, none of the wands in this shop seem to want to approve of him, and as you know the wands choose the wizards. In other words he has been rejected by all the wands that I deemed even had the slightest chance of matching with him. I'm quite sure my deduction abilities haven't waned. Wait here; I'll give you the address of another wand maker. However, I must tell you that he only makes strange wands, and most of the time doesn't really know the full extent of their capabilities." He said and went to the back of the shop, took out a piece of paper and gave it to Alphonse.

On it was an address that was probably at one of Diagon Alley's side-alleys. They thanked Ollivander, who didn't charge them anything, and walked out in search of this man. Or at least Alphonse did. He told Ed to go and pick a pet and gave him some galleons. He showed him where the Magical Menagerie and the Owl Emporium were. He didn't really know what he should get, though definitely not a toad. Since the Owl Emporium was closer he decided to look there first.

The inside of the shop was pretty dark. A lot of owls were sitting in cages of all sizes. The owls of course also came in all sizes. He took his time looking at them. Somehow he felt getting an owl was the best choice. Trisha told him about how owls delivered mails during dinner, and he found it fascinating, although hard to believe. He was thinking of getting a big owl when one owl in the corner caught his eye. It was looking at him, or rather outright staring at him with its piercing yellow eyes. Its head was rather large for the size of its body, which could have been maximum 10 inches he guessed. He couldn't really see well in the darkness, but he believed the owl was white, with many black spots all over it. The tiny beak seemed to almost rest against the chest. When it noticed it got his attention it cocked its head to the right and back and somehow he got the feeling it wanted him to buy it. He walked up to it and stuck his hand through the cage and stroked it on the head. Although it was small it looked like an extremely proud creature.

Just then, the shop owner approached him and said: "That's a Boreal owl. Cute isn't she? People usually buy big owls, but she can carry light-weight things a fair distance too, so why not?" He kind of sounded like he was desperate to sell her.

"How much?" Ed asked.

"Hmm... I'm feeling good today. I'll give her to you for just 4 galleons and I'll give you a fitting cover for her cage."

Okay, that was the ultimate proof; he wanted to get rid of her. Still, Ed felt he should buy this one. So he paid, took the cover, draped it over the cage and carefully carried it outside. When he was outside he looked around a bit and spotted Alphonse coming towards him.

"I see you bought an owl; I think it's a good choice. I found out where the shop is, come on."

So they walked and after a long time reached the place. The street was very small. Alphonse beckoned him to go in, explaining that this wand maker didn't like more than one customer in his shop. So Ed gave the owl to Alphonse and went inside.

"Ah, welcome. You are sir Knight's ward, I take it? It's not every day I get a customer. Come in, come in." The voice was soft and a bit creaky.

Ed walked in to find the shortest man he had ever seen, besides the goblins, standing in front of the counter. "Let me measure you. Please hold out your wand hand and don't move." He said. The prodigy stuck out his arm and again flying measuring equipment started measuring him, while the man himself took a good look at Ed.

After a little while he said: "I think I have just the wand for you... Wait here." With that said, he walked into the back of his store and didn't come out for at least 5 minutes, but then he appeared again, carrying a long thin box. He put it on the table, opened it and took out the wand.

"Cherry, 10 3/4 inches." He looked up from the wand and grinned at Ed and added: "This is the first stable wand that I made with a quad-core. That means it has four cores: two strands of Thestral hair from siblings, one Griffin and Hippogriff tail hair each."

The little old man started nodding to himself, then told him to give it a swish and gave it to him. As soon as he held it, he felt a kind of warmth tingle his arm, he swished it gently and golden sparks emerged from it and danced around the room.

"Splendid! It seems to like you. It is a very powerful wand and although it is stable, I feared it might not choose anyone."

The old man opened the door, to let Ed out with his new wand and collect the money from Alphonse. Now that he finally had all his school supplies they could go back. They apparated back safely. After having dinner Ed took a shower and went to his room. He changed into pajamas, but before going to bed he opened the window then the cage of the owl and said: "I think I'll name you Attra. Good night Attra." And she flew out into the darkness.

* * *

A/N Super cheesy ending! DX

There's a reason why Ed gets a really strange wand. He couldn't get it from Ollivanders, because I read somewhere that Ollivanders only makes wands with either phoenix tail feather, unicorn hair and dragon heartstring for cores.


	5. A Solid Wall?

A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN! xD I know for me it's tomorrow but I also know that for some people it's Halloween already.

Many thanks to: KuroiWing and the-ice-cold-alchemist for reviewing!

Disclaimer: If I owned Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter then the stories would be one and it'll look like this.

* * *

After the initial days of experiencing the magical world it turned out there was not much Edward could do before school started. The day after the shopping trip he had deciphered Hohenheim's letter which was written in the code he used in his books that he left at their house. It said something along the lines of:

'_I don't know when or if you will receive this letter at all, but if you do I have to tell you a few things. The first thing is my vault. There's nothing valuable in there except my journal. All the other notes are junk. You can sell them if you want. Unfortunately for you my journal is kept in code, and it's not the same one I used for my books that I left at home. Good luck decoding it. The second thing I want to tell you is about magic. I have tried numerous ways to open the gate combining magic and alchemy. Combining magic and alchemy does work, but because magic widely bypasses the law of equivalent exchange, the result will be that the gate in itself is bypassed. The reason being, that magic isn't even connected to the gate. It's like making a car move with a different, much cheaper energy. Until my death I have not found a way back to the other world. So I think learning magic would be a great help to whatever you might want to do seeing as there is a chance you'll have to spend the rest of your life here._'

The young prodigy guessed he already figured out that everything in the damn vault was useless. And he also already decided to go ahead and study magic. So recalling the code and applying it on the letter was a complete waste of time.

The blond had spent the rest of the day mindlessly reading all Hogwarts books over and over again.

In the next week Ed decoded the journal, which was disguised with some studies of magical creatures, so it was a good thing he had read the school books first. It was kind of difficult to decode, because there were a lot of things that were just plain junk, inserted to confuse people for which it wasn't meant. Not to mention the sheer amount of nonsensical apparently magical terms that he could find neither in the school books nor in the Knight's library. He had to read through the pages several times before he knew what was related to what. The journal held a lot of advanced potions ingredients, instructions and variations. A method of focusing magic into your palms to use it without a wand, which was much like alchemy just that it could do many things alchemy couldn't. Likewise, using alchemy with magic as its fuel, it was possible to bypass equivalent exchange to some extent, but not ignore it totally, because alchemy would still be alchemy. Ed found it freaky that with magic one could produce something out of nothing. He also found some powerful and useful sounding spells, of which some required alchemical energy as well. But most of these things he couldn't try, because as it was, he was an underage wizard and he had read in one of the books using magic out of school was forbidden. Then again, there were certain rules in a school you had to keep, so most likely he wasn't going to be allowed to brew random potions and practice random spells. Some day in the holiday, he came upon something very random in his father's notebook. It said that Hohenheim could speak with snakes. Well, that was odd... It also said that many wizards think this ability, also known as parseltongue, was very rare among wizards and many associate it with evil. So it would be wise not to use it in front of others. There was a small note scribbled messily under it that said:

'_Don't use alchemy or magic without wand in front of other people. Might frighten._'

* * *

After decoding that book there was really nothing else to do. Edward had read all the books in that library, which he now found pretty small. It just looked grand.

After doing that, the golden eyed alchemist had gone into the garden and had tried to speak to some snakes, making sure that no one saw him. He actually found them quite pleasant to chat with, despite how crazy it sounded. Some of them liked to rant about how wizards always made them seem so bad despite being the evil ones, what with transfiguring innocent mice and birds in their school, even though doing that didn't have too much practical use. He had read that in one of the school books and just reading it made him feel like killing whoever taught this subject, although he really wasn't someone that liked to kill people. One time he asked Trisha if it really was true that they transfigured animals in class. She told him it was true and that she never liked that class. She preferred subjects like charms or potions.

The talks Ed had with his two foster parents were kept to the minimum, because they were usually working. The house-elves however had told him a lot about them. Elmar told him that they complained to each other a lot about how the ministry of magic ruled. Always covering up what they didn't want people to hear and waiting 'till it was too late to act. He guessed that was in relation to the wizarding war he'd read about in a book. Supposedly it ended 10 years ago though.

That's how the prodigy's days passed, so in the short summer holidays that he had, he had learned what the magical world was like politically, what animals thought of it, what house-elves thought of it and what historians thought of it. By now he really wished the school year would start soon so that he could do some practical stuff and not just theory. He believed that he needed to test out magic, before he could decide if it was going to help him get back to his world. Even though his old man said that there wasn't a way around it besides human transmutation, which he sure as hell wasn't going to do. He swore to himself to prove that guy wrong.

* * *

The day came when Alphonse and Trisha brought Ed to the train. The alchemist had packed his suitcase the day before. He made sure that all his old stuff were packed up as well, it would be really hard if some house-elf pointed out to the two adults that he was in possession of a really expensive looking pocket watch. He decided he'd just leave it in the trunk at school. If someone dared look at his stuff, he could always give them a beating. They were a few hours early because the two needed to go to work, but still wanted to know that Ed was safely on the train. There was also the advantage of getting a compartment to himself. They got to the station by car and walked to the wall between platform 10 and 9 with the heavy luggage + owl.

_'Well, that's weird. I don't see platform 9 and three quarters..._'

The blond saw how the adults were looking to see if anyone saw them. When no one seemed to be staring anymore, Alphonse pushed the cart through the platform divider. Ed blinked. Still wondering what happened Trisha took his hand and walked up to the wall and she elegantly led him _through_ it. His mind told him he would hit the wall so it left him surprised that they had somehow walked through the wall. He found himself on a new platform a scarlet train stood there, seemingly already ready to leave. On the train were the words Hogwarts Express and the sign hanging from the wall read: 9 3/4.

"Ed, don't forget to write to us once in a while. We may not be your real parents, but we do care for you. If you need anything, we'll have Elmar bring it for you, so don't worry." Trisha told him, dragging him out of his amazement.

"Yeah, I will." He said.

Then he went to get his suitcase and owl from Alphonse. "Have a good school year, and enjoy yourself!" He said.

The alchemist nodded and lifted his trunk into the train. Even after he was adopted, he had continued training. They bid each other farewell and parted. Ed pulled his suitcase all the way to one of the compartments in the back of the train. Since he had nothing better to do now he pulled out his black notebook and started looking over all his notes on magic so far. He had written down all sorts of things he found important, some things from his dad's journal and other things to keep in mind. After he was done with that he flipped around in the alchemy part again.

All in all, the golden eyed boy was actually pretty excited to go to school again. He hadn't been to school for a long time. Even when he did, he talked with his little brother almost all the time, because most of the things which were being taught, he already knew. And after their mom died, it wasn't long before they went to train with Izumi. Thinking back somehow he was able to miss those days too. Some talking from the platform interrupted his thoughts. Other students were arriving. Even though he was actually 17 now, thinking back, he knew he had subconsciously acted extremely childish over the year that he had been here. Wondering if that was good or bad, he noticed he hadn't stowed his suitcase anywhere. He quickly took it and lifted it onto the luggage rack. Attra hooted a bit and flapped around in her cage. Ed thought she might be bored, so he started playing with her.

"Hey Ed, mind if I sit here?" It was Harry.

"No problem." Ed said, secretly grateful that he knew at least someone.

Harry was having trouble lifting his suitcase into the compartment. Ed was about to help him, when two redheads appeared. "Need help?" One of them asked.

Before Harry could answer, Ed replied: "Thanks, but we're fine."

Before they could look at him strangely, the suitcase was already being lifted up onto the luggage rack with ease.

"Wow, I didn't know you were that strong." Harry said in wonder.

"I didn't know you were so weak, Harry." Ed half laughed, then added, "Just kidding."

The two identical looking redheads looked at each other, and then quickly brushed some hair out of Harry's face. Both of them gasped.

"Are you really..."

"Harry Potter?" They asked.

"Yeah, I am." came the reply.

Both of them stared at Harry with open mouths. Ed wondered what could be so amazing about Harry. A woman called from outside and the two of them left. He guessed it was their mother, and assumed the two names she called belonged to them. So they were Fred and George.

"What's so amazing about you?" Ed asked when they were alone again.

Harry told him all of the things he'd learned about himself from Hagrid.

"Wow, that _is_ pretty amazing" He said nodding.

They listened to the conversation of the redheaded family outside and watched the mother and the daughter run after the train as it started moving. Just moments later the youngest redhead walked into their compartment. "Can I sit here? The whole train's full." He said.

Both Harry and Ed nodded, so the boy sat down opposite Harry, or beside Ed. He glanced at Harry before staring outside. The twins appeared again. They told Ron they were going to see Lee Jordan's tarantula. Introductions were made from both sides and they disappeared again.

Not even a second after they closed the compartment door Ron blurted out: "Are you really Harry Potter?"

The person in question nodded and a conversation started. Ed kept himself out of it, they seemed to be enjoying themselves and forgetting he was there, so why disturb them? Later a woman pushing a trolley came in, asking if anyone wanted sweets. Ron shook his head pointing out that he brought some things from home. Harry on the other hand seemed to have had nothing for breakfast, he bought some of everything. As for himself, Ed wasn't extremely hungry, but he still bought some pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes. Harry took one of Ron's sandwiches and Ron started eating from all the stuff that Harry had bought and put on the empty seat beside him.

After a while chocolate frogs were opened and Harry had gotten an Albus Dumbledore card. He was pretty surprised it moved. He gave one to Ed who thanked him and opened it up. Eating the frog he looked at the card. He had also gotten Dumbledore. He turned it around and read what it said. His eyes went wide, although Harry and Ron were too busy eating candies to notice. Dumbledore was famous for quite a few things, among others his research of Alchemy with Nicholas Flamel. He put the card in his pocket and started staring out the window. Did this Dumbledore guy really know alchemy?

The young prodigy vaguely listened to Ron explain the every flavor beans to Harry. Suddenly the door opened and all three looked at the boy that opened it. He asked if they saw his toad anywhere, he looked as if he was going to cry. They told him they didn't and he walked away, looking worse than before. Ron said something about getting rid of it on the spot, if he was the owner. Then took out his rat and shabby looking wand, he was about to try and turn it yellow, when the door opened yet again. It was the same boy, this time accompanied by a girl with messy brown hair, already wearing her uniform.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville lost his." She sounded more demanding than asking.

"We already told him we haven't seen it." Ron replied a bit annoyed.

The girl didn't seem to notice and instead told him to continue with his magic. She watched intently while Ron chanted something, which sounded like the most ridiculous thing to Ed, then pointed his wand at the rat. Nothing happened. She went on asking him if he was sure it was a real spell, then to how she had practiced a bit and it always worked, _'Wait... She practiced magic outside of school and wasn't punished by the ministry?'_ Ed asked himself while the weird girl continued to how it was a big surprise when she received her letter, then to how Hogwarts was the best school, then to how she learned all the school books by heart, then to how her name was Hermione Granger, then to how she just noticed she didn't know their names. God she was annoying.

"Ron Weasley."

"Edward Elric."

"Harry Potter."

She asked Harry if he really was Harry Potter and went to list all of the books she had read that mentioned him. Harry was surprised, but she just told him, she would have found out as much about herself as possible if she was him and then went on to asking them if they knew which house they would be in. Then went on about how she wanted to be in Gryffindor because it was the best house and how Dumbledore had been in it as well, then to how she wouldn't mind being in Ravenclaw. Then she suddenly remembered what she was doing before chatting a mile an hour. Telling them they would be arriving soon and that they should get changed she took the other boy and left.

"Man I don't care which house I'm in, as long as she's in a different house." Ron said frowning and looking crept out at the same time.

They started chatting again. The conversation took a turn and they talked about how someone broke into Gringotts.

"It must have been a really powerful dark wizard. The weird thing is, they didn't take anything. Of course people are in a panic, you never know. It could have been you-know-who."

Of course Ed had heard about you-know-who. Hohenheim stated in his journal that he had talked to this man quite a few times and found that he wasn't actually evil. He just wanted a better world, but didn't quite know how to go about doing it and subsequently his image went the wrong way. There was a note he had left for Ed that said, if he should ever meet Voldemort, as he called himself, he should try to help him change his way of doing things. But it wasn't as if he was going to tell the other two all that stuff. They wouldn't believe him anyway, seeing all the damage Voldemort had supposedly caused in his time of power. Ron abruptly changed the subject to Quidditch. Harry didn't know what it was so Ron started explaining. Ed had read about it in a book (where else is knowledge supposed to come from?), but hadn't tried flying himself. Before long their compartment door opened again. There were three boys: two stupid looking fat guys at the side and one white-blond haired boy in the middle with what looked like a permanent smirk on his face.

'_Damn why the hell does everyone come in here?_' he asked himself.

"Is it true?" The blond at the door asked.

"The whole train's saying Harry Potter is in this compartment." He turned to face Harry pointedly ignoring Ed.

"Yeah." was the answer.

Harry seemed to be looking at the two fat idiots. They looked like his bodyguards.

"Oh these are Crabbe and Goyle. I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy". Ron coughed a little and Malfoy proceeded to harassing the Weasleys. "You will notice that some wizarding families are better than others and I'm sure you don't want to hang out with the wrong kind. I can help you with that." He said to Harry sticking out his hand.

Harry declined the hand saying he knew very well how to decide for himself. Seeing this Malfoy went on to harass Harry, Ron and some Hagrid guy in one go. Both Ron and Harry stood up, seemingly ready to fight them.

"I dare you to repeat those words." Ron spat.

"Oh, you want to fight with us?" the blond sneered.

"Unless you leave right now." Harry cut in.

"But we don't feel like leaving at all. We already ate up all our snacks and it seems you still have some. One of the fat idiots reached out his hand trying to take one of the chocolate frogs, when Ed decided to do more than just give death glares. Before Goyle could reach the frogs Ed grabbed his hand. Goyle obviously not as strong as Ed found himself unable to move.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He warned.

Crabbe tried to hit the golden eyed boy, but he ducked, letting go of Goyle, who then continued trying to grab the chocolate frog. Not a moment later he screamed. Ron's rat had jumped up from the pile of sweets and bitten Goyle's hand. The victim swung his hand around until Scabbers let go and then all three of them vanished. Hermione came by to check the situation. They told her what happened and Ron asked Harry if he'd met Malfoy before. Harry told them about his encounter with him at madam Maltkin's. Ron told him what he knew of Malfoy's family. Every sentence was laced with insults.

Later on she told them the driver said they were arriving and advised them to change up. The train was slowing down and they started changing into their uniforms. A voice resounded in the hallway, stating they would be arriving in 5 minutes and that the luggage be left in the train. The three of them walked into the crowded hallway feeling nervous.

* * *

The train stopped and everyone pushed themselves out of the train.

A huge man was shouting: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

Harry walked over to him and said: "Hey Hagrid!"

"How're ya doing Harry?" So that was Hagrid.

When all the first years were gathered they walked down a narrow path. The sun had set, so there were quite a few people slipping and tripping on the road. They turned a corner and found themselves at a lake. A magnificent castle towered on the other side of it on the tip of a hill.

"No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid instructed.

Harry, Ron and Ed climbed into a boat followed by Hermione, leaving Neville standing there alone. So playing the gentleman, Ed got out and let Neville sit in the boat with the others, while he got into another boat. Too bad for him there were no other boats, so Malfoy and idiots had to get into the same boat as him. Hagrid told the boats to move forward and they did. During the uncomfortable silence, Malfoy jabbed Goyle in the arm with his elbow. Goyle looked at Malfoy, and then turned to Ed.

"Err.... Thanks for warning me; I didn't realize there was a rat in there." He said, while looking quite embarrassed.

Oh, so they thought that he tried to stop Goyle only because there was a rat there? It looks like they didn't notice his death glare. Oh well no point in making enemies.

"No problem." He said looking up at the castle.

Malfoy stuck his hand out: "Draco Malfoy. You are?"

"Edward Elric." He replied and shook hands.

"Hmm...Elric. Never heard of the name before. Are you muggleborn?"

"Nope, my dad was a wizard." He replied.

"Halfblood?"

"No idea. Didn't know my mom and my dad wouldn't tell me anything about her." He managed not to choke on his words.

"Oh..." Malfoy said.

The silence continued until they reached the other side. Hagrid found Neville's toad and all of the first years walked up to the door, where Hagrid knocked 3 times.


	6. A Singing Hat?

fA/N: Thanks to: KuroiWing, JaeBard, 777angeloflove, DemonRaily, Avampiress, xxMidnightWolfyxx, dark0anglez

Special Thanks to Swinny Fluviru for useful critique and valuable opinion, I treasure it a lot! Now to address some things from your review:

First of all, you really don't need to apologize, it's critifque right? Critique's always good, I do hope I was able to write this chapter better, if I failed, please tell me. About Elmar. Yes, I agree she's weird, but I need her to be like that. About the Alphonse and Trisha thing: I promise there will be some bonding later, but I have to admit I forgot about it. I'm going to improvise for now. Alphonse loyalties will be revealed later. I'm glad you like the plot, I thought for a long time before I came up with something.

I'm done now, so enjoy (hopefully)!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize!

* * *

The large double-doors opened to reveal a tall woman with emerald green robes. Her stern face was coupled with grayish hair tied back in a tight bun. She exchanged a few words with Hagrid, and then led them further inside the castle. Somewhere to the right they could hear loud voices, probably the other students. But the professor, Hagrid called her McGonagall, led them to the left into a small room, where they all had to squeeze to fit inside.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you can join your seniors at the feast, you all have to be sorted. The Sorting is very important, because you will be spending most of your time with your house mates. In other words they will be something like family to you. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each of these houses has produced their fair share of outstanding wizards. While at school, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule-breaking will result in loss of points. I hope each of you will help your house win as many points as possible."

Ed contemplated what she said. He would have to be around the people from his house nearly all the time, but he hardly knew any people, except for Harry and those he just met on the train. She told them she would come back for them when preparations were done and that they had best prepare themselves as well.

_'In the end anything would be fine, right?'_

A lot of students started mumbling. Apparently no one knew what this sorting ceremony was about. Some said they had to fight a troll, another one thought they had to perform a spell.

Then Edward heard Malfoy behind him tell Crabbe and Goyle: "Look at all these people, getting excited for nothing."

The idiots snickered. The young prodigy shook his head. They were here to learn, not to prove themselves to the world. Besides, the ministry would have banned something that could kill potential wizards on their first school day. At least he hoped so, until now he'd only heard bad things about the ministry. Well it wouldn't matter what was coming for them now. He was sure he was ready to face it. Closing his eyes, he tried to think of something that would calm him down.

Not long after some screams came from other students. Two ghosts had flown into the room. Ed jumped at the sight. They seemed to be too lost in their conversation to notice the screams and students below them. After a little more arguments they turned to the students. "What're all of you doing in here?" One ghost said. "You're first years, aren't you? Ready to be sorted? Don't worry it's not that bad." Said the other laughing at the shocked faces.

They started talking with some students, until McGonagall came back inside the little room and told them to get lost. Turning her attention back to the students she led them into the hall. They were ordered to walk in a straight line. Ed noticed he never had to do that in the military before. Maybe it was because he was not part of the ordinary troops. The hall they walked into was very spacious. Four long tables stood beside each other almost reaching both ends of the room. On the other side of the hall was another long table. It seemed to be the teachers table and they were walking straight towards it. They halted in front of it and McGonagall went to get a stool and a hat. During that time Ed looked up at the ceiling. It really did depict the sky, he read about the magical ceiling in the book Hogwarts, A History. It looked much better than in the book. Meanwhile the professor had placed the stool in front of them and the dirty hat on it. For a moment nothing happened. Then, one of the folds on the hat moved and it started to sing:

_Oh you may not think me pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
__  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.__  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap! _

_You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindor apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

There was a huge applause for the hat, after which Ed heard Ron whispering: "So we just have to put the hat on!"

The Professor stepped in front of the hat with a long parchment roll. She started reading down the names. Each table belonged to a house and the students who had been sorted out walked to their house table. Ed spaced out somewhat, distracted by the ceiling. After the first Slytherin was announced, Ed noticed out of the corner of his eye how Harry looked over to the Slytherin table. Harry, not very good at hiding his emotions, looked as if he felt uncomfortable just by looking at them. Now that his attention was back to the sorting, he felt a weird tingling in his stomach. Did it really not matter which house he ended up in? He felt nervous and anxious.

After quite a while, the professor said: "Edward Elric."

Although he was adopted now, he had been allowed to keep his name, which he was really grateful for. The braided blond walked up to the stool. Outwardly he didn't show much emotion, but inside he was dreading this moment. What would the hat do when it saw what he was hiding? Setting the hat on his head he sat down.

_'Hmmmm....'_ came a voice in his head. _'You're not actually 10 years old, are you?'_ The hat asked.

_'Well if everything in your song is true, then you should be able to tell.'_

_'That certainly is true'_ the hat replied._ 'You're very brave and you've proven it many times, but also very loyal to the people important to you. Yet you are wise, not only because of this 'truth' thing. But you are also ambitious beyond all reason. First you tried to revive your mother, and then chased after something legendary.'_

When the hat mentioned the young Elric's mother the horrible image appeared in his mind again. Though on the outside his face only contorted ever so slightly.

'_Hmmm... Where should I put you...? You seem to be an all-around genius and although you can get very hotheaded, a Gryffindor trait, it seems you would fit nicely in any house…Hmmmm… Hmmmm… Hmmmmmm…._

'_Enough already! Get on with it!' _Ed managed to growl mentally.'

'Alright, alright! Do you have any preferences?

'_Well, actually no, and I thought you could see that._'

'_Then I guess I'll put you in...'  
_

* * *

People were starting to murmur in the great hall. Ed had been sitting on the stool for quite a while now and hungry students tended to be impatient.

Suddenly the hat shouted out: "SLYTHERIN!!"

Ed took the hat off, got down from the chair and calmly walked over to the Slytherin table. His expression was pretty blank. So no one really knew if he was happy or not. But the Slytherin table cheered nonetheless. While walking he glanced at Harry, and received a strange look from the boy. As if his preconception was now totally jumbled up. The other houses didn't cheer a lot; it seemed that all of them rather hated Slytherin. Maybe it was because a lot of dark wizards were in Slytherin, like the Voldie-guy. Thinking of the Voldie-guy... Ed was still deciding what he should do about it. If he ever met the man, it wasn't like he was just going to blindly trust him and follow his orders or something. But the fact remained that his father was not a liar, and was an alchemist. Alchemists sought the truth to everything. Theories were always proven before they were relayed. Even though he created the Philosopher's stone willingly, no one could deny that he was indeed human, and every human had errors. Crabbe, who was sorted sometime before him and Goyle sometime after him, were placed in Slytherin as well. Hermione was put in Gryffindor, contrary to where Ed had thought she would be in. Malfoy soon was sorted into Slytherin before the hat touched the tips of his hair; he walked over with an air of confidence.

Malfoy gave him a pat on the back saying: "I knew you were different from the Gryffindor clowns."

Harry took a while on the hat and after he was sorted to Gryffindor someone a few seats away from the golden eyed one commented: "Hahaha! Not even the great Harry Potter took as long as Ed!"

Ed frowned a bit and nudged Draco's shoulder, to get his attention. When he turned around Ed asked him how long he was on the chair. The other boy tilted his head a bit and seemed to think.

After a while he said: "Around 20 min, I think. Potter only lasted half of that time." He grinned. Ed smiled back, but he was wondering why having the hat on your head for a long time made you special. Ron was one of the last to be sorted; he ended up in Gryffindor where the rest of his family had been as well, according to him.

When everyone had been sorted the old geezer sitting in the middle of the staff table, a.k.a. Dumbledore, rose from his seat. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" And he sat down again.

Everyone at the Slytherin table laughed at the ridiculous statements Dumbledore made. The other tables clapped and cheered. Something about Dumbledore made Ed feel wary of the man. But he couldn't tell if it was the twinkling in the eyes, or the dancing stars on the bright blue robes.

"Is he crazy or something?" Ed asked, although he wasn't really interested in the man's mental state.

"Yeah he's bloody crazy, letting Mudbloods study at such a school." Some upperclassman replied, others nodded to the statement, when food appeared and they dug in.

Most of the first years from Slytherin were quite composed, even when the food magically appeared onto the table out of nowhere. Some from the other tables nearly fell out of their seat. He supposed it meant that most of the Slytherins were from high-class pureblooded families, or at least as pureblooded as they could get. From reading Edward learned that a lot of families who claimed to be pureblooded weren't, as a matter of fact. It was technically impossible to be of pureblood after so many generations of wizards, unless they inbred, which he thought was disgusting. Some of the first years sitting around him began to talk about their parents, while he silently ate, without thinking too much about what he was eating. One thing he realized was that magical people hardly drank milk. They drank pumpkin juice and other strange stuff, but thank god, no milk. It seemed to him, that even though they were first years, they were already creating a sort of ranking; like whose blood was purest or whose family was the best.

"Hey Edward! Are you a pureblood? What do your parents do for a living?" Some random Slytherin asked.

Was he pureblooded? Most likely not, better go with the 'I-don't-know answer'.

Thus he answered. He'd gotten better at lying in the year that he was in this world.

The blond had forgotten to do his homework sometimes, some of the books that were in the school library were very fascinating, so he had to learn to come up with quick and good lies and being able to tell them like he meant it. A lot of the others were focused on him. Then he remembered that the other kid also asked what his parents did.

"Uh, well... I don't know what they did, but they're dead now." Some of them gasped.

But then they continued eating. And he did as well.

* * *

A lot of the Slytherins had already stopped eating and were now watching Ed. Even though he was eating with the best manners he had ever showed while eating, he ate an amount and at a speed which amused the others. They couldn't ever imagine eating that much.

"If you continue to eat that much you won't have room for dessert." An upperclassman commented, snickering.

Ed heard him but didn't spare him a glance. After he finished his 17th, or so, plate, the dishes cleared and new ones appeared along with dessert. Some of them were still smirking at him, longing to see his expression when he noticed what he was missing. But their jaws dropped when to their horror Ed continued eating at the same speed. Noticing this, he grinned at them and continued. Even Crabbe and Goyle couldn't keep up with him.

As dessert vanished Dumbledore stood up once more and said: "Ahem, I hope you all have enjoyed the banquet and would like to announce a few things. First-Years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." His eyes seemed to twinkle to somewhere around the Gryffindor table. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally I must tell you all, that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to anyone who doesn't wish to die a very painful death."

With the seriousness in his voice, Ed concluded he wasn't joking; most people seemed to understand as well. Only a few people laughed, under which he could identify Harry's voice. Some people started murmuring to those beside them. Then, Dumbledore cried something about singing a school song. Most of the teachers' smiles were fixed and it just looked hilarious, while the students started to sing the school song, of which Ed knew not. And neither could he understand the words for everyone sang at their own pace, in their own tone, it was quite chaotic. Luckily for him Dumbledore conjured the words for everyone to see. But he found that the text in itself was nothing less than ridiculous. Finally most of the hideous singing stopped.

'_Man someone should teach these idiots how to sing properly._' Ed thought, even though he knew perfectly well he couldn't sing as well.

That's why he hadn't tried in the first place. Finally the Weasley twins stopped singing. His already negative opinion of them dropped further. It's not that he couldn't take a joke, but that those two were seriously crazy. Dumbledore nearly cried of joy from the horrendous music and finally told them they could go to their dorms. The Slytherin prefect led the first years down the halls. Careful to remember all the different turns in the castle, he followed the rest of the people walking down into the dungeons of the castle. They reached a hallway and stopped in front of a bare stretch of wall. The prefect turned to them and told them they'd do well to remember the password.

Then he turned to the wall and said in a clear voice: "Runespoor!"

The damp wall the alchemist was facing turned into a stone door and slid open. The book about Hogwarts history didn't say much about the place itself only the history and some basic info, so Ed found himself quite impressed at not only the way the door was cleverly hidden, but also at the grand and elaborate room before him. The walls were of stone (naturally) with intricate patterns on them. They circled the room. A few black and dark-green sofas stood in the room and a few tables were in front of them. On the wall there hung green drapery with Slytherin's emblem.

The prefect turned around once more and said: "This is the Slytherin common room. Be sure never to leak the password and/or the location. The common room is where you all can hang out when you've got free time and of course you can do your work here. The boys' dorms are this way and the girls' dorms are this way." He pointed out two sets of staircases leading downward.

_'Man how deep does this castle go anyway. Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if it ended at the centre of the earth.'_

The prefect continued: "Your luggage should have already been brought to your rooms. By the way, all the names of the people sleeping in each room are written on the door." with that the prefect told them he still had something to do and exited the common room, leaving the tired first years to find their own rooms.

Ed trudged down the stairs to the left with the rest of the boys, starting to feel tired himself. To his grief his room was right at the bottom, impossible to run past. After seeing his name on the door he looked at the other names.

'_Urgh, Mafoy, ok. But Crabbe and Goyle?_' Even though they were the only people he really talked to, he felt like his intelligence would decrease if he hanged out with them. '_Oh_ _well, they're going to be like family while I live here, huh?_' He sighed and walked in. He really hoped he would get along with them somehow.

The other three were already inside because he walked behind everyone.

"Hey Ed! Looks like we're roommates now." He heard the platinum blond say as a grin formed on his face.

Ed acknowledged him with a small smile and started to change into his Pj's. In the middle of doing that he heard Molfoy whistle and noticed, a bit or maybe very disturbed that Malfoy was looking at him.

"Bet ya could beat Crabbe and Goyle in arm wrestling with all those muscles of yours." He commented, he sounded seriously impressed.

"I wouldn't be surprised" Ed returned this time with a confident grin, for a moment he wasn't sure about the other blonde's intentions.

After Ed had finished changing, Crabbe suddenly noticed it was like an offense to him and challenged Ed. They put a table in the middle of the room and two chairs on either side of the table. Judging by the look of the table it was pretty expensive and somehow Ed couldn't imagine it was right to use the table in this way.

Nevertheless they got into position and Malfoy counted down: "3...2...1...GO!"

With a long delay in between, Crabbe started pushing with all his might. At least it seemed long to Ed, his reaction time was second to none really. Although actually on second thought there were people who could react faster than him, a lot faster... A few of them being his teacher, the Fuhrer and number 48, a.k.a. slicer. Even though Crabbe was pushing with all his might, he couldn't move Ed's arm.

"Are you going to give up yet?" Ed asked, a smirk plastered in his face. '_Oh damn._' He thought. '_Now I'm starting to act like the colonel bastard._'

Seeing that Crabbe started trying to push with the weight of his body, Ed quickly pushed Crabbe's hand, with a little too much force, he belatedly noticed, and sent it crashing into the table, which cracked from the force. Ed suspected Crabbe's wrist wasn't doing too well as well.

"Oops, sorry about that, Crabbe." Ed muttered.

"I never thought I'd see someone beat Crabbe in arm wrestling." Malfoy said while holding his stomach laughing.

Ed joined in, maybe it wasn't going to be so bad after all, Malfoy wasn't that bad. Then they went to the bathroom in their room to brush their teeth. At least Malfoy and Ed did, the other two continued sitting on a couch in their room, munching candy and pastries, Crabbe one-handed of course.

The room was much like the common room. The beds were placed at the walls, so that their heads would be at the wall. Two beds on each side. Green curtains with snakes on them hung from all three exposed sides of the bed. It was possible to push them aside. Beside each bed was a night table and the bathroom was on the opposite wall from the entrance. Their trunks lay in front of their beds. Beside the bathroom doors were two sofas. So Crabbe and Goyle were sitting on the sofa on their side of the room. Surprisingly enough the room had two windows. The big windows were beside the two morons' beds. The view was apparently that of the lake they had traversed in the small boats, just that they could see the fish swimming around.

Ed untied his hair before going to bed, and that was when Malfoy suddenly asked: "Elric, why'd you keep your hair long?"

Ed thought for a while, and then said: "Well, I remember my dad kept his hair long. I guess it's like some kind of hold onto my past. And I like it this way."

It wasn't a lie. During the year the blond had been here he had lots of time to think things out. He had come to the conclusion, that he didn't hate his dad. He was just disappointed that he hadn't come back in time. Of course he did return later and he helped them. Even after he died he seemed to have helped him by at least leaving his notes and other things behind for him. Even though it wasn't a big help, it made Ed realize that his dad was actually thinking about him before he died. He was also happy he kept his promise to die in that same form that his mom fell in love with.

After Crabbe and Goyle had fallen asleep, Malfoy and Ed talked a bit, even though he was tired it was kind of hard to sleep. "You said your mom and dad died, so that makes you an orphan right?"

"Yeah, but I was adopted two months ago."

"By who?" The question was asked out of pure curiosity.

"By Trisha and Alphonse Knight"

"Oh! I heard of them. My father praises their work a lot. He works in the ministry too."

"So, what does he think of the ministry? My foster parents think that the minister and other higher ups are all idiots."

"Yeah, father thinks that way too. He once told me he wished that more people like your parents would work there and make it better. I think they're right, it is pretty screwed up. I mean they couldn't do much when you-know-who was at power. And they didn't improve at all over these 11 years. At least that's the impression I got from reading the newspapers." Ed then made a sound of approval.

Not long after, silence fell over the room, except for the snoring of Crabbe and Goyle. Ed supposed Malfoy had fallen asleep too. He tried to go to sleep, but it was really difficult. The whole summer seemed like a mad rush to him. First the letter, then getting adopted. He remembered feeling shocked, really shocked.

Now that he was away from them he could think clearly about what happened. Throughout the rest of the summer he felt so dazed. He knew that people from his side could share the same appearances as people from this side. But he hadn't expected it to be _them_ of all people. He knew it was mostly his fault that he didn't talk to them a lot. After the trip to Diagon Alley, he purposely _avoided_ them, either sticking his head in books or sleeping too long. He couldn't help it, every time he saw them; memories would come back to him, painful ones. There were happy ones too, but those also provoked some kind of sadness within. A feeling that he might _never_ go _back_ surfaced each time.

Feelings that said: _'You'll never go back, just be happy with what you've got here.'_

It was as if the gate was stomping all over him again. It wasn't the first time he had the feeling that if some God did exist, it really hated him.

Even when he had tried to talk to them during dinner or on other occasions he was with them. It felt awkward.

He missed his brother, but he didn't want a substitute, he wanted to be with his _real_ brother. The one he spent his childhood with, the one he was envious of because he got more of their mum's attention when he was small, the one he fought with, the one he trained with, the _one_ who he tried so desperately to return to his body.

He never called this world's Alphonse 'Al', he felt it would create a difference between the two, although they were so very similar, and help him get along with him. Then there was 'Trisha', she had a lot of work, much more than Alphonse had, so she often was really busy. But whenever she was around, she smiled at him, tried to talk to him, make him feel at home, tried to get him to open up. And he wanted to, but he _couldn't_. He wanted to just blurt out how sorry he was for ever trying what he did, wanted to _cry_ his _heart_ out, wanted to be able to just _laugh_ and _enjoy_ their company. But something nagging in his mind told him: _'She's not your real mum, you don't belong here.'_ It felt surreal, like a dream or a nightmare, he couldn't tell. Then he would close up and just pretend he was talking to someone else.

Golden eyes shut themselves firmly. Ed tried to think of something else, the next day, school, anything really, until he too, succumbed to sleep.


	7. Normal Classes?

A/N: I was pretty busy and frustfrated this week... But I still got around to writing!

Thanks to the following for reviews! They motivate me!

777angeloflove, Yumetaka Kourui, dark0anglez, KuroiWing, Actractivlyhideous, TristaDin, WolfXArcher, Simon, cagna, alchino

Disclaimer: I don't own, that's why this is a fanfiction.

* * *

The next morning Ed woke up earlier than anyone else in the room.

He walked over to the table he broke last night and whispered: "Time, to test some magic... Reparo."

The crack fixed itself, and the alchemist sighed. It was his first time actually trying a spell, so he wasn't sure if it was going to work, even though he had memorized the theory, whatever little was available, perfectly. There was also the option to use alchemy, but he wasn't sure that the light wouldn't wake anyone up. He had thought about doing something to Crabbe's hand, but was even less sure this one would work, having never used a spell on a human before. Still he decided to do something; it would at least be a little more familiar to him. He crept over to the fat boy's bed and swished his wand. He didn't need an incantation. The wand-work, which would act as the transmutation circle and complete understanding of the process should do the trick, at least he hoped. Something made a soft cracking noise in the damaged wrist and Crabbe stirred a bit. Ed cringed; he didn't want the boy waking up. But after that no more movement came from his first test subject. Well, of course he wouldn't have done it if he deemed it dangerous and never with pure alchemy on a human ever again. After all, in the past, he had learned that small mistakes could have devastating effects. He touched the part that he thought he fixed and found it was a job well done. Smirking, (damn not again) he silently changed up and made his way to the common room.

There he started doing some basic exercises. If he didn't work out every day, he might lose his touch. The wizards didn't seem to have any sports in their schedule, except flying lessons, but that couldn't be counted as sports. It would also allow his mind and body to wake up properly. He had never been a morning person, and it wouldn't do to sleep in class.

Sometime later he heard a voice: "Man, that's a lot of exercise for a morning, isn't it?"

Ed, who didn't realize anyone was standing there at all, jumped visibly and the newcomer chuckled. It was Malfoy of course. Glancing at the Grandfather's clock between the boy's staircase, where Draco stood, and the girl's staircase, Ed noticed he had been training for a whole two hours.

"How long have you been watching me?"

"Hmm...Just after you woke up, I guess." Ed tensed up, but the other blond didn't notice and continued: "I mean the first thing you did after getting up was changing up right? So I suppose it's a correct description of when I started watching you. I heard some noises and woke up. You should really learn to get up quietly."

A moment's pause. "Wait... Why are you watching me in the first place?" Ed asked, skeptically. This kid had better not be a gay pervert, which was the last thing he wanted to deal with in this world.

"Cause you're weird." At a raised eyebrow he elaborated. "I don't know the name Elric, so I'm going to assume you're a half-blood and not many of them get into Slytherin. Out of those that do, few of them are not picked on by the more prestigious families in this house. Furthermore, how many witches and wizards do you know that wake up early to work out? So that makes you really interesting. I thought school would be boring, but I guess I'll withhold my judgment for now at least. Besides, I really don't know many people who have golden eyes. They remind me of something... Something dangerous... Oh well, I'll tell you when I remember."

Ed laughed a bit, and the tension disappeared. So he didn't see him fixing Crabbe's hand, which was a relief.

"You're not going up to the great hall like that, are you?"

Ed looked down at himself and noticed he was sweating, a lot, and he wasn't in his uniform. Naturally, it would have been impossible to work out in that.

Before he could say anything Malfoy continued: "Come on. The others are going to wake up soon."

Ed went back down to their room, took a quick shower, changed up, and Draco and himself went up to the great hall. He knew the way, but he suspected it was because after coming to the castle, some knowledge from the gate surfaced from his subconsciousness, showing him the map of the castle. Malfoy almost lost his way, once or twice, but seeing that Ed knew the way he let him lead. It wasn't as if it were a disgrace to the family, the Knights were good people, according to his father. They were the first to reach the great hall, aside from some teachers. They sat down and talked a bit about school. Later on some more students came in and sat down starting to chatter busily. Then the bell rang signifying that a new hour had started and the food appeared on the table. Both of them ate fast, but dignified. Since they still had time before their first lesson, they stayed in the great hall and talked to some others. Rumors were already flying that Peeves the poltergeist had already poked fun at a Gryffindor. Crabbe was showing his apparently amazing healing abilities off to Goyle.

As some older students sat down Ed decided it was a good opportunity to ask about the teachers.

"That teacher there is professor Snape. He's really great. You can hardly find potions masters as good as him nowadays. It's really a relief that he's a professor here; else we might have gotten some dunderhead for potions. No doubt, the Gryffindorks would cause endless mayhem in any potions lesson, if it weren't for the professor." One of the older students gladly told the first years.

"That one" Marcus Flint, the prefect, said pointing to the woman who led them inside "is McGonagall. She's the head of the Gryffindorks. Make sure you pay attention in her class; she's really strict and will take points if you don't. But usually she has to take the most points from her own house." Everyone at their table, who heard, laughed.

"That's Quirell. He's useless, really. He hasn't really taught anything useful until now and rumor has it that ever since some events that happened in the summer holidays, he started stuttering like mad and seems really frightened." Those three teachers had the most things said about them, the rest were only introduced briefly.

* * *

The charms class was thought by the tiniest person Ed had ever seen. In fact he was so happy, he even raised his hand for all the questions the charms teacher asked, although he didn't show the emotions in his face. After all, it was embarrassing to admit you're happy because someone's shorter than you. No, he did not just admit that he's short. He's still growing, he will be taller! (This time!) The charms teacher, professor Flitwick was quite impressed and gave Ed quite a number of house points. The double lesson ended and on the way out nearly all the other Slytherins in the class gave him a pat on the back and a thumbs up. The Ravenclaws also looked happy that someone in another house shared their love for the pursuit of knowledge, but weren't very happy that Flitwick, thrilled with Ed, kept picking him.

'_Oops._' was the only thing he thought as they headed down to the great hall yet again for lunch. Lunch normally began at 12 o'clock and the tables were filled with food until about 1:30. That left them with half an hour before lunch actually started.

"I'm going to the library." The shorter blond informed his stalkers.

He was about to head off when he heard: "Wait up! Err... I mean... could you draw a map for us to the great hall before you go off?"

Ed rolled his eyes, then set his bag on the floor and dug out a piece of parchment and handed it to them. They looked at it and found a map of Hogwarts on it.

"Just something I was trying out in charms class. I drew the map from my memory, so I'm not sure how accurate it is. I tried out a charm on it and it worked. It'll show you where you are on the map, but only the main areas of the castle are on it. It was just an experimentation so you can have it." He couldn't and wouldn't tell them his knowledge of the castle layout came from a big, black gate with wiggly hands.

They thanked him and walked off, with Malfoy leading the way, as he was the only one who could read maps of the three. Ed himself headed off into the library. At this unusual hour the library was almost empty. Nevertheless Ed went to check out all the books. By the time it was 12.00, Ed managed to have a vague idea of the way the books were sorted and had thumbed through a few. He picked out four that seemed interesting to him and checked them out. The librarian, madam Pince, raised an eyebrow and even though she assured him she wasn't the type to bet, she bet that he couldn't read those four books to the end within this week. If he somehow managed to, she promised she'd let him have a copy of the library key, so he could enter even if the library was actually closed, which was on all Sundays, Holidays and some time before their curfew. Essentially it wasn't a bad bet and he had nothing to lose, so he agreed and carried the four big books with him to the great hall. In front of the large doors to the great hall, Hermione was also about to go in when she saw the books he was carrying, she looked like she was about to say something, but then turned away and marched inside in her arrogant know-it-all attitude. Ed just rolled his eyes. '_Stupid know-it-all._' He sat down beside his stalkers. Malfoy looked like he was about to say something too, but Ed was faster.

"It's a bet with the librarian."

"Oh, I see." Draco replied and turned back to his food.

He brought the books down to his dorm, before classes began again.

* * *

'_God or Gate, I don't care who, save me_'. The young prodigy was in the middle of the most boring class he had ever been in with the nerdiest house he would ever live to see. They never seemed to stop scribbling down notes. Of course he also took down some notes, but there really wasn't any need to scribble down every single word that was being said, all the information could be looked up in the books for god's sake. He nearly fell asleep from Binn's droning and all the scribbling sounds the quills produced. Crabbe and Goyle had fallen asleep after 5 minutes and the teacher didn't seem to care. And then finally the damned lesson finished. The Slytherins rushed out, as the Ravenclaws jotted down their last notes.

'_Man what a tiring day._' Ed remarked to himself as he walked towards the dungeons.

As he passed an armor that walked around he couldn't help but smile sadly to himself. He really missed his little brother. His look-alike would never be able to replace his one and only little brother. He passed his time before Astronomy by improving a spare map he had of the school. Not only the Charms on it, but he had also found out that there were secret passages in the school. It was pure coincidence, actually. He had walked past a painting, when something told him there was something special about it. After staring at it for a while the words 'sugar cane' surfaced. He had no idea if those were his thoughts or if some piece of knowledge had revealed itself again, but he tried saying it out loud and surprisingly the painting flipped aside revealing a storage room full of candy. A large amount of them were lemon drops. '_What the hell...? Who would eat so many candies?_' he looked through the candy a bit and wondered if there was some kind of preservation spell on it, as he really believed it impossible to eat that amount of candy before they expired. He picked up one of the lemon drops examining it for any signs of mould. Finding none, it was then popped into his mouth. Before leaving he pocketed a few of them. _'It's not like anyone's going to miss them.'_

Astronomy was pretty interesting, although he didn't really believe what the teacher was saying about the meaning of the stars.

* * *

The next day throughout Defense Against the Dark Arts he had this sickening feeling in his stomach. It wasn't because of the garlic clusters that were randomly spread out everywhere in the classroom. No, it was because they were going to have Transfiguration classes with McGonagall this afternoon. He didn't mind McGonagall, she was much like Izumi, but the nature of her _class_ disturbed him. During Herbology he made up his mind to go and talk to McGonagall about this subject, while he did that he nearly tripped over someone else while carrying a pot full of earth and he heard Malfoy sneer to the Hufflepuff to watch where she was going. Her face became full of fear afterwards and during the rest of the lesson she stayed as far away as possible at any given time. And then they had lunch, luckily the other Slytherins were too busy with themselves to notice Ed's distress, not that Ed showed too much distress, but it was visible if you looked hard enough and he also didn't eat as much as usual.

The hour of reckoning came, he was waiting in front of the classroom half an hour before class began, and he vaguely wondered if other people thought he was a nerd. Then the other Slytherins slowly assembled in front of the classroom chattering away, when the classroom door flung open. They all walked in, McGonagall was standing in front of her desk.

She greeted them with the words: "Transfiguration is one of the most difficult and dangerous kind of magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone who causes mischief in this class will be kicked out."

She flicked her wand at the table and it turned into a pig, with another flick it turned back into a table. Ed paled. She continued with a basic explanation of the spell they would be using and how it worked. Ed let out a small sigh of relief. They weren't transfiguring animals, not just yet. Instead they were turning matchsticks into needles. Everyone started trying to change their matches into needles, but Ed just sat there thinking.

"Mr. Elric is everything alright? You look a little pale." He looked up and saw her standing right in front of him.

"Yes, professor... I'm fine." He answered in a rather small voice.

Damn now she probably thought he was shy or something. Ed took out his wand flicked it and said the incantation, the match promptly transformed into a super sharp needle. She raised her eyebrows.

"Bravo, Mr. Elric, that was a splendid transfiguration. 50 points to Slytherin!" Professor McGonagall said, an earnest smile decorated her face.

Almost the whole class stared at Ed and the needle. They couldn't believe Ed just did it on his first try, when they couldn't even get it to twitch. The lesson continued on, while Ed turned more sticks into needles without even focusing on them. Halfway through, he raised his hand and she walked over to him.

"Erm, professor, may I have a word with you outside? There's something I have to tell you."

She gave him a small smile and nodded and both of them walked out of the classroom, followed by stares of the other students. Once outside Ed cut straight to the point.

"Professor, I'm strongly against transfiguring animals. I was raised in a muggle orphanage and I have acquired a certain moral value of animals. I don't think it's right to transfigure them and mess with their lives. It may be alright with the others, but I refuse to transfigure them." He looked at her with a look that he hoped would make her understand. Her smile faded and for a long time she just stared at him, unblinkingly. She was probably trying to convince him otherwise with her scary stare.

Finally she closed her eyes and sighed: "Well, Mr. Elric it is a shame, you have great talent in this area. I will see what I can do."

"Thank you very much."

* * *

Wednesday and Thursday passed by quickly (except for History of Magic). On Thursday they had had Transfiguration again. The others continued doing the match transfiguration and Ed got a few more difficult exercises. He had had to transform a wooden block into a wooden rocking horse. Next he had to transforming a needle into a mirror, which was difficult for him because he had to multiply the mass of the needle by about 10 times, which was somehow extremely ridiculous to grasp, but possible with magic. McGonagall had given him some more house points for the job well done. Since Thursday afternoon was free he had decided to work out on that afternoon.

So here he was in the great hall on his first Friday morning at Hogwarts eating breakfast. After working out he was pretty tired and went to bed early. As a result of being tired he slept well. Other Slytherins in his 'age group' were having a good morning as well, reason being they had potions today and nothing else. Ed was also happy about having potions, not because the teacher looked sympathetic, but because he felt that potions would be the most scientific of any subject he was going to learn at this place. And who didn't like to have something familiar around when in a completely different world? Actually he didn't think Snape looked kind, but he had always been kind to him whenever he saw him, giving a small smile and the like. And who knows he might not even be so bad, looks could be deceiving. And now Ed was standing in front of the classroom awaiting the potions class. To his surprise the next ones to arrive were Harry and Ron along with the annoying know-it-all, who was chatting to them, although they weren't really listening.

Upon seeing him she walked over to him. "Do you know which Slytherin it was who made McGonagall so impressed? She looked really disappointed at our performances yesterday. Tell me, who was it?"

"Err... Me. You got a problem?"

Her mouth hung open for a moment then she closed it and gave him a look that said something like: Don't get ahead of yourself just because you're good at transfiguration.

'_Wow, she really can't seem to get over not being the best._' He thought while raising an eyebrow.

"So how's your first week been Harry? Ron?" Ed approached them and asked, while Hermione walked a ways off.

"Well she's been following us the whole time and it's actually quite annoying, but we haven't told her that yet. It seems she doesn't really have any friends. Otherwise the rest of the week was stressful, we got lost almost every day. And the pile of homework we have is becoming bigger with every class." They whispered to him with agonized looks on their faces.

"Well, you should always do your homework as soon as you get it, that way it won't pile up." Ed said grinning. Ron groaned, but said nothing more.

The rest of the students arrived in front of the classroom one by one. And finally Snape came and opened the door and they followed him into the classroom. He started off his class with a roll call. At Harry's name however he made a small pause.

"Ah, yes... Harry Potter, our new - celebrity..." He stated coolly.

Harry frowned at him. Malfoy and gang sniggered, truthfully Ed also had to snigger, but not because of the statement, but because of the way he said it. It was so funny he _almost_ laughed out loud, but managed to hold it in. Harry shot Ed an accusing look and he could only shrug.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making." His voice was almost a whisper, making Ed's childish excitement come to the surface, remembering the time Izumi started teaching Al and him after the month on the island. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring human senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopple on death -- If you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

There was an extended silence. All the Slytherins waiting excitedly for what was to come next, the Gryffindors raised their eyebrows, except for Hermione who twitched in her chair like the only statement that she caught was his last one, and she was going to prove him wrong. Ed himself was also excited. He loved things that followed exact rules, things that followed logical processes. Who cares about the wand-waving shit? Certainly not him. Suddenly the silence was broken.

"Potter! What would I get if I added powdered wood of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Hermione's hand shot into the air, ignored.

All Harry could do was reply: "I don't know, sir."

"Tut, tut -- fame clearly isn't everything. Let's try again. Potter where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" Hermione's hand rose higher into the air, Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy were shaking uncontrollably with laughter.

Ed frowned. Really, was Harry an idiot? True, it was mean that the professor was picking on him, but from the rumors he heard some Gryffindors spreading, which would have certainly been hard to miss, why didn't he make an effort to prove Snape wrong? Had he not opened his book a single time before class? The questions the professor was asking struck him as some of the most important things in the entire book. He had remembered these things after glancing through the book on the night he came back from Diagon Alley. The next question would probably be about wolfsbane.

"I don't know, sir."

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Harry glared at Snape and Snape glared back. The tension in the classroom rose. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"I don't know, sir. I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?" Was Harry's calm reply.

Ed slowly raised his hand, hopefully that would make Snape notice the Slytherins were also there and were itching to get the lesson started. Snape noticed Ed and nodded towards him.

"Asphodel and wormwood make a powerful sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone found in a goat's stomach, it is able to save a person from most poisons. Monkshood and Wolfsbane are the exact same things, also known as aconite." Ed said in a monotone voice, trying not to sound like Hermione.

"Very good Mr. Elric. 50 points to Slytherin. Sit down Miss Granger. And why aren't all of you copying this down? Before I forget, ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek Potter."

Hermione's hand sunk dejectedly and reached for her quill. The scribbling began. Harry shot Ed another look that was somewhere in the negative area. _'He probably didn't understand what I was trying to do._' Ed thought while writing down what he just said.

Ed took some parchment, scribbled on it and folded a parchment-plane, under his desk. When Snape turned his back, Ed threw the plane, and it landed on Harry's desk, without anyone noticing, since they were all bent over their own parchment writing.

'_Sorry, was just trying to make him stop it._' Harry read, apologized to Ed silently for misinterpreting. And the lesson continued.

They were asked to work together in pairs to brew a potion for curing boils. Snape walked around the classroom criticizing everyone's ability to read instructions, everyone except for Hermione, Ed and Draco. He ignored Hermione while praising the Slytherin duo's potion. Hermione's potion was just average, followed from the book to the point. She was not a second off in adding the ingredients. Ed's potion had a little of a modified recipe. The one in the book was a simplified version for students to learn, but Ed convinced his partner to brew his version of the potion, since it was clear that neither would think the student version presented a challenge. They didn't have much to lose and it actually turned out to be a gain.

In the middle of praising their potion (after awarding them another 20 house points) green smoke rose into the air and a loud hissing could be heard. Snape started scolding those who sat around there and the perpetrator himself, who turned out to be Neville. From where Ed sat, he couldn't see much, but he saw the toad boy covered in boils as another Gryffindor boy led him out of the classroom and another 10 points were taken from Gryffindor. Snape cleared the potions waste that had seeped onto the floor and continued the lesson, a bit angrier than before. For the rest of that day, Slytherins and even some Ravenclaws laughed about Neville's potions mishap.


	8. A Cute Dog?

A/N: Many thanks again to the reviewers 777angeloflove, Red Dawn Rising, KuroiWing, Mina, Not-good-at-invent-names, OhJay

Oh yes; I apologize for not finding out Ed's birth date. The last time I watched the first anime was a long time ago, and in the manga his birthday isn't specified. I just thought that in the anime there wasn't one as well and randomly picked one, after looking at some pages where people tried to calculate his birthday. So, thanks OhJay for telling me.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own these gfreat characters and/or places!

* * *

Even after all that had happened in Snape's class, Ed couldn't think of him as a bad person. It just wasn't his fault that some people couldn't read instructions properly and weren't interested in details and didn't like studying and thought his class was boring and so on. Not to mention that messing up in potions was dangerous (as seen from the example which was Neville).

On that weekend, the blonde's roommates decided to stay in bed a little longer, since they didn't get enough sleep during the week because they had to do their homework. Like all students, Slytherins were lazy. Unlike the rest though, they had to keep up their parents' reputation. Such was the school life of a Slytherin. Ed wrote Trisha and Alphonse a letter on that Saturday morning, he did promise them he would write one sometime. He tried to keep it short, but then he started elaborating. It was difficult to get started, but eventually he wrote of Harry and Ron, of Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. And he also told them about Hermione, a muggleborn who couldn't seem to face the fact that someone was smarted then her. When he was done he reread it. Nodding to himself, he folded it up and placed it in his pocket. He picked the four books he had borrowed, and then he walked out of the common room, and headed towards the library, ready to claim his prize. There he found madam Pince, busily working at the desk. She didn't seem to notice him, which made a tick appear on his forehead. Annoyed, he dropped the books down on her desk, making her nearly jump out of her chair.

"Here, I read every last one of them."

She looked at the books and raised both of her eyebrows in astonishment, but she wasn't going to lose her bet that easily. "Oh really? Then you won't mind if I ask you about some of the contents of these books? Please sit down; it might take a little while." She took out her wand and conjured a chair for Ed, who gladly sat down. Madam Pince, who had a nearly perfect memory, didn't have to look through the books again to ask questions. And Ed, who also had a very powerful mind, had no difficulties whatsoever in answering her questions.

After about a hundred or so questions the librarian sighed, pretty much exhausted. She had just lost a bet to a first year, how embarrassing was that? She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out a golden key. "Here, just as I promised the spare key to the library. Just promise me you won't tell any of the teachers of our bet, else we would both get in trouble."

"Sure thing." the prodigy smiled, wished the librarian an enjoyable weekend and hurried off to the owelry, apparently the synonym of a post office in the wizarding world. Up in the tower it was much cooler due to the wind. The owelry, which was home to the owls of many student and then some school owls, smelled of bird droppings, decomposing bodies of dead prey and other strange things. Ed looked around for his small Boreal owl. He didn't see her so he guessed she was still out, hunting for food or something similar. He leaned on the large opening in the wall, the entrance and exit for owls, and looked outside for a bit. One hand reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter again. He read it for the third time that morning:

_Dear Trisha and Alphonse _(He didn't feel comfortable writing anything else)

_How have you been?  
The first week of school was great. I was sorted into Slytherin.  
The other students are nice, and I made some friends.  
The train ride was good, the scenery was beautiful.  
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, two of my friends, chatted merrily on the train.  
Later I made friends with Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.  
I haven't talked much with Crabbe or Goyle. But I think Draco and I understand each other well.  
He said you were friends with his parents.  
Classes are a bit boring. I had read all the books before school started already.  
The only thing that's funny is the way the know-it-all Hermione always shoots her hand into the air whenever a question is asked.  
I wonder why she's not in Ravenclaw. I bet some people there would understand her better than the Gryffindors.  
The homework isn't too bad though, it makes me work my brain a bit more.  
The library is really extensive; there are really a lot of cool books in there.  
Potions class was the most eventful in the first week.  
We had potions on Friday with the Gryffindors. Professor Snape seemed like he favors the Slytherins though.  
We were asked to brew a potion in pairs. Draco and I made the best potions and we earned some house points.  
One Gryffindor made a strange potion which burnt a hole in his partner's cauldron.  
After that he had to be sent to the hospital wing.  
I suppose that's all for now. I'll write back again sometime._

Ed

He smiled to himself, it felt so childish. He wondered if he would be able to see his little brother again. In truth, he hadn't known what to write. The only things he wrote back in Amestris were reports of missions. Just as the alchemist's thoughts started to stray towards the old times, something swooped over his head and came back and landed on his arm. She stared up at him, it was Attra. "I need you to bring this letter to Trisha and Alphonse, got it?" He said as he tied the letter around the owl's outstretched claw. She seemed to nod and as soon as he was done she took off with a powerful flap of her wings. He watched her fly for a while then decided to explore the castle.

* * *

At dinner time Ed walked into the great hall to find a lot of Slytherins talking about something. He sat down beside Malfoy and asked: "What's up?"

"Oh right, you were out the whole day, so you wouldn't know. A notice was hung on our notice board in the common room. It says we're going to have flying lessons with the Gryffindors." He finished the news laughing. "Classes with Gryffindor are always the most interesting ones." He continued.

* * *

The next week raced by and soon it was Thursday. The post came and as usual, the other blond got sweets and other things like that from his parents. Ed didn't get anything this time. Trisha had written a letter to him that arrived on Monday. Either way, Ed wasn't such a big fan of sweet stuff. From both the Slytherin and Gryffindor table loud conversations could be heard. It seems like Gryffindor's geek was reading out some things about flying from a book. Others on both tables were talking about their experience with flying. Ed kept quiet and listened. He couldn't really say much since he hadn't flown before.

When the four of them got up to leave for class there was a small commotion where Neville sat. He had opened up a package and was holding a glass ball in his hand.

It turned red in his hand and someone said: "You've forgotten something..."

Malfoy snatched the thing from Neville's hand to get a good look at it, just as Harry and Ron stood up. Before anything could happen, Professor McGonagall arrived at the scene. She had one eyebrow raised and was about to ask what happened when the slightly taller blond placed the thing back onto the Gryffindor table, muttering: "I was just looking." Ed shook his head a little behind the other three and they walked out of the hall.

* * *

At half past three in the afternoon Ed and gang were at the appointed place for flying class. The field was flat and wide, the grass below them was a rich green. 20 brooms were laid out neatly and parallel to each other on the grass. After the last Gryffindors arrived, madam Hooch started giving orders.

"What're you all waiting for?!?! Everyone stand beside a broom! Hurry up!" Everyone hurried to stand beside a broom. All of them were the same, old with some of the twigs bent in strange ways. "Stick out your right hand over your broom and say UP!" Madam Hooch barked.

They all stuck their right hand over the brooms and called out. Most of the brooms just twisted and turned on the floor. Harry's came up after the first call, Draco's came into his hand as well. Ed was having some troubles. It twitched the first time, the second time it twisted around a bit. On the third try, it came up, a little ways, but then dropped back down. The next try resulted in it twitching again. Ed glared at the accursed broom lying innocently on the floor in a similar fashion as the accursed opaque liquid that is secreted from a cow. After a few more moments of staring, he called "UP!" one last time. Abruptly, it flew into his hand, startling him. Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount the broom and walked up and down correcting their grips. She corrected Draco's grip and he scowled slightly. Ed held his similarly as when he held a spear, just with his hands together. She nodded at him and passed him. The taller blond gave him a small smile. When all the grips were corrected they proceeded to actually getting into the air.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle... three... two..."

Ed was already preparing himself mentally to kick into the air; it turned out pretty hard to do. Although he had no idea HOW hard she actually meant by kicking off hard and then some loud scientific voice in his mind was screaming at him. It said there was no way he would stay in the air, he would jump up and fall back down like some bunny hopping around and then possibly land on his back, and then maybe he'd break his spine. With all these thoughts racing through his mind, he just barely glimpsed how, even before she blew her whistle, one chubby boy with a Gryffindor symbol on his robes rose up slowly and shakily. At this point Ed had the feeling something bad was going to happen. The boy continued to rise up despite madam Hooch's calls. He was at about twenty feet in the air now, his broom shook more violently beneath him and then, suddenly he tilted to the side and lost his grip. Most of the others on the ground closed their eyes and turned away. Neville was now speeding towards the ground. Quickly climbing off his broom Ed jumped up and caught the falling boy in midair, landing on both feet. This caused his spine to send some pain signals up to his brain, because he was carrying a slightly over weighted boy and he couldn't cushion his fall with say, a roll, because of said boy. Just after landing, he promptly dumped him on the floor. Madam Hooch scooted over and checked the fat boy, who Ed now remembered as toad boy, first and then proceeded to take a look at the golden-blond. Neither one of them seemed to have injuries, but the teacher wanted to play safe.

"10 points for Slytherin for your quick reaction. Both of you will be following me to the hospital wing, I just want to be sure that you're both okay. While I'm gone, I don't want to see a single one of you on your brooms. If I catch you, you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say Quidditch!" With that said, she pulled Ed and the still shocked and whimpering Neville with her to the hospital wing. Once there madam Pomfrey gave them a quick checkup. There was really nothing wrong with them so she gave them a potion which would help them restore the body's functions to normal, be it from shock or any other possible thing. Ed eyed the potion carefully before downing it in one quick and fast gulp. He was right in drinking it quickly, because he found it tasted horrible. The other boy however started sipping it slowly and spat the contents of his first sip back onto the floor, whereupon he was scolded by the nurse and forced to drink the rest. After that, to Ed's displeasure, they were told to stay in the hospital wing and rest, which was a huge waste of time, because he felt perfectly fine, even before drinking the potion. The potion made him feel better and his spine stopped aching from the impact.

* * *

Later when they were finally allowed to leave, Ed made his way to the dungeons. Dinner had been brought to them into the hospital wing. Now it was nearly curfew, so he hurried down, in hopes of getting some homework done before he really had to sleep. Upon reaching the common room, the short blond was spotted by the taller blond who had made himself quite comfortable on the sofa.

"Hey Ed! Nice going, we just earned more house points because of you, although it was too bad you couldn't witness what happened next while that Hooch was gone." Ed nodded at him, signaling him to continue. "I found the toad boy's Remembrall on the floor and was going to hold on to it and give it back later, but since that could wait I jokingly said that I'd hide it on a tree for him to fetch later. I got on the broom and Potter followed me. Surprisingly enough, he was quite good, and it was his first time flying. He sped past me really fast and I accidentally dropped the ball. He actually sped down to the ground so fast; you'd think he'd smash his head into the floor. But he was able to stop, and then that McGonagall came. We think he's going to get expelled." Malfoy finished his story sounding quite amused with himself.

Deciding to play the Slytherin game of honor and such the young genius said: "Yeah, maybe he'll get expelled. But don't forget, you were seen flying as well, if he gets expelled, so do you. What would your father say?" Realizing the logic of Ed's statement all colour drained from Malfoy's already pale face. It was only for a moment though; his shocked face was then replaced by a smirk as he tried to make a comeback.

"I didn't mean for the flying, Elric! I meant for sneaking out tonight!" Ed's expression darkened a little as his dorm-mate elaborated: "I challenged him to a duel at midnight, in the trophy room. Of course I'm not going; it'll only get me into trouble. I even told Filch there would be people going there tonight. It's just too bad I can't see Weasley's and Potter's expression when they get caught."

'Cunning indeed', Ed thought. It might have been something he'd play on the colonel, if he were here. Still, Ed decided he'd go and warn them. All he had to do was to wait till everyone else went to bed.

"Are you coming to sleep Ed?"

"Nah, not yet. I need to finish some homework first, since I couldn't do it during the day."

"Okay, 'night."

"'Night."

Taking his school stuff out Ed sat in the common room by the now dimly lit chimney. The fire burning within was green like almost everything else in the room, Slytherin's colour. By the time he had to leave, he nearly finished all the work the professors had given. He was glad he still kept his 16 year old mind when he passed through the gate as he just couldn't really imagine that his younger self would have been diligent enough to do the work if neither of his family members were involved. Grimacing to himself at the thought, he kept his stuff and put them in a corner. He only took his wand with him as he left to find the misled Gryffindors.

* * *

He arrived in the trophy room, but no one was there yet. Thinking quickly, he transmuted a trapdoor and a small room into the floor and cast a charm on it to make it look normal. It was just a precaution in case the caretaker decided to come before Harry did. But if Harry and Ron did come there wasn't going to be enough space in there, so Ed transmuted it again. After each transmutation the alchemist listened to see if anyone was approaching.

Nothing happened, no sound was heard, so he sat down in a corner and waited, and waited longer. The moments stretched by. '_This must be how Al felt..._' He really felt bad for that, but he hoped Al was alright now. He desperately believed Al would be alright. Thinking of Al made him remember what his goal was. It turned out everyday life could be really distracting. Just as he was about to dose off, he heard footsteps. '_Not very careful of them..._' He thought to himself. The door to the trophy room opened. Harry, Ron, Neville and even Hermione came in. Before this he'd never believe Hermione would do something like this.

All four of them were visibly confused by Ed's being there and Malfoy's absence. Before Harry could ask anything, Ed got up and told him: "You were tricked Harry. Malfoy told me all about it. But can you please tell me why there are so many of you here?" Harry looked somewhat angry at Draco, or maybe at himself for believing a Slytherin wouldn't try that.

But then he answered, although with a hint of self-disappointment: "Well, Hermione was trying to stop us and came out of the tower, but then she noticed the fat lady wasn't there anymore, so she couldn't go back in and decided to follow us. Neville was outside and forgot the password, so he's here too."

"Well, I remember it now though!" Neville exclaimed proudly. "It's 'pig snout'!"

Neither one of the Gryffindors, not even Hermione, noticed Harry had just told a Slytherin where the common room was and Neville had just blabbered out the password. Silence reigned for a moment as neither knew what to say. Then they heard the voice.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." This voice belonged to Filch of course.

All of their hearts skipped a beat and not a second later they dashed through the door of the trophy room from which they had not heard the creepy voice. After exiting the room, Neville, the clumsy idiot, promptly tripped over a suit of armor. Once again they froze, but just for a split second, then they ran as if their lives depended on it. While making a mental note to add a secret passage behind a tapestry to his map, Ed vaguely thought about how 'Filch' sounded like 'Filth' and found it fit all too well to the man. They ran without stopping, Hermione lagging behind slightly. In front of the charms classroom, the panting group came to a halt.

"I think we lost him." Harry wheezed through deep breaths.

"We've got to hurry back to the tower." Ron said, and then continued gasping for air.

They all silently agreed with him, but just as they started walking, a doorknob rattled and out came the one thing, they so did not want to see right now. It was Peeves. Spotting them he squealed in delight. Hermione seemed to suck in her breath as Harry tried to get him to shut up.

"Shut up, Peeves -_please_- you'll get us thrown out." He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but the pleading tone could not have been overheard.

Obviously trying to do just that, Peeves cackled evilly and loudly. "Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, _please_." Harry was really begging now.

But it didn't seem to have a lot of effect on the poltergeist, so Ron tried a different approach. "Get out of the way." He snapped, swiping at him at the same time.

This seemed to tick Peeves off and an evil grin came to his face. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED!! STUDENTS OUT OFF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!!!!!!" He shouted his ghostly lungs out and that was the signal for them to run like there was no tomorrow.

They sprinted down the corridor and reached the end, nearly slamming into the door. Harry pulled at it, but it wouldn't open. Panicking, all of their hearts were racing, thoughts of getting kicked out whirled through their minds. Filch's footsteps weren't far off.

After a short moment of heavy breathing, Hermione briskly made her way in front of the door, pulled out her wand and breathed out "_Alohamora_" between deep breaths.

The door unlocked itself without a sound and they all pressed themselves through it. Ed, the last one to make it through, closed it as quietly and quickly as possible. All of them stood with an ear at the door, listening. Peeves and Filch started talking, but Ed was no longer listening. He had turned around to face a monster, he hadn't known was there. A big black dog stood there with its three heads staring down at them. It seemed confused. Ed wanted to warn the others but he feared that making even the slightest sound was going to get them killed. He tried very hard not to look into its eyes; he believed he heard that dogs would take it as an invitation to a duel.

Harry with his face still pressed on the door whispered: "He thinks this door is locked, I think we should be okay... Get off Neville!" The last part was said only slightly louder, because Neville was gripping Harry's clothes so hard, they might have torn if the owner yanked a bit. Neville didn't say anything but started shaking harder then he already was. "What?!" Harry yelled, just quietly enough so Filch wouldn't hear.

The anger in his expression faded from his face as he turned around. Harry looked at the drooling three headed dog with so much fear, Ed wanted to slap his face. In a battle one should never show his fear, else it was like telling the opponent that you knew you couldn't win. Either through that or the fact that it had recovered from its stupor of seeing people in its room, it started growling angrily at them. They must have all shared the same thoughts on what to do next because before the dog could do anything else, Harry gripped the door handle and nearly flew out. The others weren't nearly as fast, so Ed ran a little closer to the dog and to the side, catching its attention. An enormous jaw came snapping where he stood just before he managed a dodge roll. The mutt looked stunned that it didn't hit, so Ed took that quick moment to see if the others made it out. Seeing that they did, he dashed for the door. One set of claws swept the ground, trying to prevent him from getting back to the exit. Ed hoped he estimated correctly before attempting to jump over the huge paw. Unfortunately for him, his feet knocked against the top of the paw and he lost balance. Out of instinct he landed on his hands and rolled back onto his feet. Finally, he managed to slide through the halfway opened door and slammed it close upon making it out.

Panting, Ed decided he got really lucky not being hurt by the dog. He looked around for the rest of them, but from the sound of the footsteps it appeared that they ran away seemingly having forgotten about the blond. He got back into the common room and waited until his breathing returned to normal, then sneaked into his room where the other three were sleeping peacefully. After changing up as quickly and quietly as possible, Ed got into his bed. Now that he had time to think back, he noticed that the dog was standing on something. Trying harder to remember made him realize what it was. It was a trapdoor.


	9. A Halloween Dream?

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! I really appreciate the support and I'm glad you like it.

For those that were wondering: This story is probably going tfo continue over the first book, but most likely it's going to finish before the 7th book.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and most of the other stuff!

* * *

The next morning, up in the great hall, the platinum blond was visibly surprised to see Harry and Ron still there. Unlike Ed, they looked super tired. Over the years of long studying, he had learned how to sleep efficiently.

Suddenly those four tired eyes shot wide open with attention as six large screech owls carried a long object into the hall. It was wrapped in some brown paper and the shape reminded Ed of a large branch or a pole of sorts. It landed in front of Harry and Ed's eyes followed all the movements over at the Gryffindor table as he shoved some toast into his already full mouth. Beside him Malfoy was cursing, it seemed he was jealous of Harry, even though usually he was the one to get stuff. After watching for a while, it was clear to Ed that Harry wouldn't be opening it in the great hall, so he turned his attention back to his table just in time to catch a snippet of conversation from Malfoy to his cronies.

"Come on guys! Hurry up and finish your food. We're going to see what it is. You come along too Ed!"

Both Crabbe and Goyle grunted in acknowledgment, since they weren't supposed to speak with a full mouth. They were from high class families after all, even though they might have looked like pigs and maybe had brains that were the size of peas; it seemed they at least knew how to eat properly. They moved out of the great hall and waited at the entrance hall just at the foot of the stairs. Soon enough Harry and Ron were hurrying down the hallway. As they turned to walk up the staircase they found that they were blocked by Crabbe and Goyle on either side of Draco. Ed stood to the side leaning on the wall with his arms folded across his chest. Before Harry could react the taller blond snatched the package from Harry and frowned.

"It's a broom." He said throwing it back to Harry, who caught it a bit clumsily. His voice was full of jealousy and spite. "You'll be in for it this time Potter. First years aren't allowed to have brooms." He stated looking smug.

"It's not any old broomstick. It's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" Ron declared proudly, not before flashing a grin at Harry. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."

Malfoy wasn't going to take a snide comment like that from a Weasley and promptly spat back at Ron. "Ha, as if you'd know, Weasley! You couldn't afford half of the broom, I bet you and your brothers save up twig by twig."

Before anything more could be said professor Flitwick appeared. Malfoy quickly told the professor that Harry had a broomstick, but his reaction was completely different than what Malfoy expected. As Flitwick casually asked what model it is after telling them he'd heard about it from McGonagall, Ed couldn't help but noticed how hard Harry was trying to stop himself from laughing. It seemed it would have been because of the scowl on Malfoy's face. After Harry and Ron walked away and up the stairs looking quite satisfied with themselves, Draco stomped off with Crabbe and Goyle following him, after their brains had registered that their blond master was leaving. Ed stood still; an angry and two cheerful voices could be heard from above. It was Hermione. Ed just shook his head. That girl was going to have to learn someday that not every action that was good happened because the person who did it followed the rules. Rules were just things people made up to sort a mess, sometimes creating a lot more mess in the process. But at the same time there was a limit to how much one should ignore the laws. At that thought he had to smile sadly to himself. He walked off to class.

* * *

Time passed so quickly without any more big incidents between Harry and Malfoy, although both scowled upon seeing each other. As the magic lessons progressed from boring to slightly interesting, the weather grew slightly colder as well. More points were earned and soon it was the evening before Halloween. Classes for the day had ended and a festive mood was growing among the student body.

The first time Ed had celebrated Halloween was in the orphanage. To Ed it was a strange celebration, that hadn't existed in Amestris. In the orphanage they cut the pumpkins by hand and put lit candles in them at night, while drinking pumpkin juice. It seemed the festival had some Celtic roots, but nowadays muggles celebrated it for fun. From what Ed could gather wizards believed Halloween to be the day where dark magic was strongest.

* * *

That night Ed had a strange dream, he believed he would never forget. It must have been a dream, but it didn't feel like one. He stood in a wide open field. The only thing that could be seen was white, white and more white. The white expanded endlessly into the nothingness. He stood there for a while wondering why he was there. Then the gate appeared before him, tall and menacing. Ever so slowly it creaked open. He jerked his head back a little, surprised. The inside wasn't full of glaring, mad eyes and millions of tiny black hands, it wasn't plain black either. There was a forest in it. Ed stood still and didn't move from his spot. The gate suddenly started closing in on him and he still didn't move. It wasn't so much that he couldn't move, but he didn't feel the need to. He felt calm, like everything was alright. Even though the thought of passing through the gate scared him, he felt calm. As the insides of the gate encircled him and the white could only be seen through the gate shrinking into the distance, he found himself in the forest he had seen from beyond the gate. The sky was covered by thick layers of tree branches. The forest floor was gloomy and blue. It might have been autumn turning winter, like what Scotland was like in the moment.

Noticing his wand on the floor he walked over to it and picked it up. Upon doing so the wood seemed to disintegrate and the cores separated themselves from each other and they turned into two Thestrals, a Griffin and a Hippogriff. All four of them looked intently at him. All was still. The light that passed through the branches illuminated the forest in a misty dark blue. The beasts stood up and started walking towards each other. They walked slowly and gracefully. The Thestrals who signified death, the Griffin a sign of protection and the Hippogriff for freedom walked, until they touched each other, and walked further into each other, melting into one, in a somewhat grotesque way. The heads turned to look at him in an eerie manner. The mass started to glow a brilliant gold and reshape itself.

Slowly, memories of the first time they had done Alchemy came to him. It was Winry's birthday and they wanted to give her a special present, created directly in front of her eyes. Nothing else would've fit the description 'brand new' better. It was their first time; they wanted to make sure that it wouldn't fail, so they performed it ever so slowly. The gray powder had transformed and wiggled around. It scared her, to say the least.

The shape twisted itself, made knots in its body that melted back together soon afterwards. Ed stood there silently, watching. The tip started to form into something that was recognizable. A head perhaps? A nose formed, eyes and ears followed shortly after. Hands and legs made their way out of the blob of glowing goo. Soon the bright, shining silhouette of a person stood before him. Judging by the size, Ed guessed this person was maybe 11-13 years old. But something else was bothering him. The shape looked familiar... "Al?" He subconsciously called out. "Brother?" It called back.

* * *

Ed sat up so fast after waking up, he couldn't stop the movement, which resulted in him toppling over and falling onto the floor. He blinked a few times. '_What was that? A dream? Maybe, but maybe not? Probably not... If it was, why now? Why not when I just arrived in this world? It must have been some kind of telepathic communication through the gate!_' Ed's thoughts were racing as he sat there staring into space. A voice brought him back to reality.

"Hey Ed, what're you doing on the floor?" It was Goyle.

"I fell over. What time is it?"

"Err... I think... Wait... uhh... 4 o'clock in the morning?"

"Okay, thanks."

Goyle trudged into the bathroom sleepily. Ed decided he couldn't get anymore sleep today and went to do his morning exercises after changing up. When he went back down, Goyle had gone back to bed and Malfoy had just finished changing. They greeted each other and Ed went into the bathroom to take a shower.

* * *

The great hall was decorated with all sorts of pumpkins, which had all sorts of expressions. Bats zoomed around and hung at the ceiling. The festive mood was unmistakable. The lessons' quality suffered a little because of all the extra chatter, but otherwise everything was fine on this day. Ed was a little out of it as well, because the cogs in his brain were running at 200% with his full focus on something no one else knew about. He knew magic had to be involved, else his wand wouldn't have been there. With his limited knowledge on magic, it was also obvious he wouldn't find anything out just by thinking it over, but the thoughts didn't want to stop. On the way to one of his classes he saw the Gryffindor duo and walked over to them.

"Hey, Harry. Hey Ron, how's your day been?" He asked casually.

"Hey Ed! The day's been great! Did you see all those bats and pumpkins in the great hall, it looks awesome!" Harry replied enthusiastically.

Ron however wasn't looking as happily as Harry did, Ed looked at him a tiny little bit worried, but Harry seemed to catch his concern.

"Don't worry about him. It was just charms class. We just started to learn how to make things float and he had to pair up with Hermione. He's a little upset, 'cause she was correcting him the whole time."

"No wonder nobody can stand her! Truthfully, she's a nightmare." Ron cut in. "Well, she must have noticed she doesn't have any friends."

Someone bumped into Ed and didn't apologize. Ed was about to shout something nasty, when he noticed it was Hermione. She didn't look up. She just kept walking straight ahead.

"Looks like she heard you." Harry told Ron.

The three of them looked at each other guiltily.

Ed hadn't ever voiced his opinion on her in any form, but he had to admit to himself he was casting her aside as a nerd and a know-it-all. Well, that kind of people weren't always bad, right? Winry wasn't, even though she always hit him with her wrench, even though she cared for his automail more than for his human parts, she wasn't a bad person. She could be very caring if she wanted to be. He was technically also a know-it-all, an Alchemy one. But there really wasn't a colonel around to correct or anyone else for that matter. Next to nobody in this world knew of Alchemy, and he was convinced: the one practiced in this world was different than the one from his world. They parted ways and the day continued on. After two lessons or so, rumors about Hermione were spreading.

"Did you walk pass the girls bathroom on the fourth floor? There was someone crying in there! I swear!"

"Hermione didn't appear for classes, you think she gave up trying to be the best?"

"That mudblood apparently noticed how ugly she is, and doesn't dare to show her face anymore. HA!"

"I saw a girl from Gryffindor go into the bathroom! She locked herself in and didn't come out anymore. I heard her crying! I wonder what happened to the poor girl..."

Those and many more comments passed through the mouths of Hogwarts students in the corridors of the castle, it really was amazing how fast these things spread throughout schools. Ed wondered if she'd be ok. Someone who never ever broke any rules if possible, was skipping class. This smelled like trouble to him.

* * *

Regardless of the strange events that took place that day, the sun continued its journey over the sky of the earth. Not surprisingly, it soon became darker. Evening had come and the last classes had ended. The Halloween banquet would be starting soon. The students made their way into the great hall, leisurely, relaxingly, cheerfully, excited. Ed was one of the first people who were in the hall. Malfoy and cronies had come in with him so they were merrily chatting with some other early birds. Ed was watching the entrance. Many people swarmed in, but he didn't see Hermione. Just as the tables filled with delicious looking festive food, none other than professor Quirell stormed into the great hall. All eyes were on him.

"T-T-Troll... In the d-d-dungeons... Just t-t-thought you wanted t-t-to know." He stuttered, before fainting and dropping to the floor.

Panic rose at once in the great hall. Only after Dumbledore shot fireworks from his wand, did everyone quiet down. He gave the prefects orders to bring the other students safely to their dorms. Everyone got in line and squeezed through the entrance of the great hall.

'_The hell? A troll? In Hogwarts? Something fishy was going on. How could a troll possibly get into Hogwarts? Unless, of course it had assistance. But then who would bring a troll into Hogwarts? For what reason?_'

Then it struck him. Hermione must have still been inside the bathroom. Or at least she still didn't know of the Troll. He had no idea if Harry and Ron were willing enough to go and tell her, because they were the ones that put her in that state in the first place. Without anyone noticing he snuck out of the crowd and slipped down an unused hallway. He made his way towards the girls' bathroom on the fourth floor. He heard footsteps so he hid behind a statue. It was Harry and Ron. Somehow it really surprised him. Another set of footsteps could be heard and the two of them ducked behind Edward's statue. Their cover was almost blown, because seeing Ed apparently scared the living daylights out of them. The other figure that walked by was Snape. He didn't see them and continued on his way. He was headed somewhere with a really great air of duty about him. _'Where the hell is he going? Shouldn't he be headed towards the dungeons?'_

"What're you doing down here?" Ron whispered.

"The same thing you're doing."

The conversation couldn't go on because another set of footsteps could be heard. The steps were heavy and slow. The thing that was making them slowly came around the corner. The two Gryffindors froze in shock. That must have been the ugliest thing they had ever seen. It had gray skin, short legs, long two hands of which one dragged a large club behind it. It stopped for a while. Ed couldn't help but quickly compare it to Goyle and he found they looked strikingly similar. He grimaced as the thing made its way into a room on the side of this corridor. They walked carefully toward the door. They saw the key in the keyhole and quickly decided it would be best if they locked the troll inside that room. Harry shut the door and turned the lock. Ed had a strange feeling that something was terribly wrong with this, but the other two were already walking away, when they heard a sickening scream. Worst of all, it came from the room they had just locked. The voice was undoubtedly Hermione's. Harry ran back, fumbling with the key, but he kept missing the keyhole. His hand was shaking with terror. Ed was close to jumping around in a panic.

Then flash of inspiration hit him and he decided it would be much faster if he kicked down the door, so he did. The damage could be blamed on the troll; it had already destroyed half the bathroom when they entered. Hermione was cowering on the other side of the room, her body pressed tightly against the wall. Ron picked something up and threw it at the troll. It turned around and hesitated a bit before changing its target. It was charging at Harry when it stopped in confusion. The small blond was charging at him head on. The stupid thing had never imagined a human would challenge a troll like that, and changed his target once more. It tried to whack Ed, but it was much too slow. By the time it had lifted up the club halfway, Ed already gave him a jump-kick in the stomach with both legs. Due to the difference in size and weight, the attack wasn't enough to throw him over, but enough to knock its balance off a bit and make it stumble backwards. That being so, it had to abandon its attempt at striking its opponent. However it didn't even have time to stumble finish as Ed was already on his next attack. After the first attack he had done a back flip and landed, pushing forward again not even a second after landing on the ground. He jumped up and punched the fat thing's hand, making it release the club. The pain that came from its hand made it tumble backwards onto the floor.

Meanwhile Harry and Ron had gone to comfort Hermione, they tried to get her to run away, or at least stop screaming, but to no avail. When the troll was about to drop to the floor, Ed saw that none of the Gryffindors were watching him. That was advantageous. He quickly clapped his hand and touched the ground. The three who were huddled on the ground saw only the flash, when they turned around; Ed was already holding an elegant spear in his hands. He stood ready for the troll to stand up. It did, and he rammed the head of the spear into the monster's leg, making it howl in pain, then still holding the spear which was stuck in the leg, he used it to flip upward and attempt to kick the thing in the chin. But this time it seemed to have gotten a hold of itself much faster than Ed anticipated, and he found himself caught in the troll's hand. It used its other hand to grab the club. The ugly thing swung its club back, Harry ran and caught it. Using the momentum of the swing to land on its head. Even though by accident, that action saved Ed. The troll missed and hit the floor. Harry's hands covered its eyes as it flailed around trying to get him off. Harry's wand, that was still in his hand before jumping, ended up sticking out of the troll's nose. The troll lifted its club again in an attempt to knock Harry down from his head. Ron, sitting on the floor terrified, lifted his wand up and shouted the fist spell that came to his mind.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The club floated in the air above the troll, causing it to stop shaking around in rage and leaving it confused. The sudden stop caught Harry off guard and he fell to the floor. The club then dropped back onto the trolls head, making it spin a bit, before the monster collapsed onto the ground, releasing Ed. Harry pulled his snot covered wand from the trolls nose, the wand was, luckily, still whole. Hermione had finally stopped screaming. She was about to thank them, when the professors came: Snape, McGonagall and a fragile looking Quirell. Seeing the blood spurt from the still bleeding wound in the troll's leg, Quirell nearly fainted again. Snape inspected the unconscious troll as well; he raised an eyebrow at the sight of the spear.

"What in the world were you three thinking?!" McGonagall's still stern face was full of anger, but traces of relief could be seen.

Naturally she was only scolding the three Gryffindors; Ed was under Snape's jurisdiction.

"You are very lucky to still be alive. Why aren't you in the common room?"

"Please, professor... They were only looking for me." Hermione's voice was still laced with fear.

McGonagall looked at her quizzically, so she elaborated.

"I went after the troll because I... I thought I could finish it off alone. Because... You know, I read all about them..." It was an obvious lie. But the fact that THE Hermione Granger was lying meant something. The other two must have realized it as well, as they tried to look like they were familiar with the story. "If Ed and they hadn't found me, I'd probably be dead by now." She then retold the battle and both professors raised an eyebrow at the mention of how Ed whacked the thing head on, with little magic. She told them the spear was summoned with magic, which was a good thing; because Ed didn't think it would be good, if the teachers believed anything else.

After that points were taken because of Hermione and she left. The points and five more were than given back to Harry and Ron, who were then also told to leave. Now it was just the nearly fainting Quirell, McGonagall, Snape and of course Ed, who was feeling very small under the stares of the teachers.

"Was the story she told true?" Snape asked.

"Yes, professor." Was his quick and firm reply.

Ed felt like he was being questioned by the Führer, Snape just seemed to have that kind of effect on people. He hoped they wouldn't ask anything too difficult to answer, there were things he couldn't afford to let slip.

"I'll leave him to you, Severus." McGonagall said after a moment of silence.

She turned and left, Quirell however stayed.

"What were you thinking when you came down here to save a mudblood of all people?" The question was asked after Snape was sure the strict woman was out of sight.

"I decided that the Gryffindors were too dumb to go and check on her, and a death in this school wouldn't help its reputation." It wasn't exactly a lie. He actually had thought no one was going to fetch her.

Snape nodded in what looked like understanding. "I shall give you 20 points for saving three incompetent Gryffindors' lives. Be off to your dorm now." Snape wasn't angry, he was more proud, or something like that. As Snape turned to leave, Ed saw a scratch on his skin under a small section of ripped pants; he couldn't get a good look, for Snape's cloak covered it up in a matter of seconds. He was about to ask about it, but bothering the man right now wasn't really what seemed like a good idea. Snape left, Ed was about to leave too, when a hand caught his shoulder. He spun around to face Quirell.

"You wouldn't mind having a word with me, would you now?" The lack of stuttering surprised the teen.

Ed hated his stutters. It was suspicious that he wasn't stuttering and he wanted to know what a stupid teacher like that would want from him. He wrinkled his nose as he noticed the smell of garlic piercing it.


	10. Telepathy?

A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewfed!

Disclaimer: Like in previous chapters.

* * *

Ed wasn't quite sure where the horrible stench of garlic was coming from, only that it seemed to be following Quirell around as he was led into some empty classroom. Not that anyone would be in a classroom at this point of time. At last Quirell found a room that he was willing to use and went inside, Ed following behind him. Quirell held the door open for the blond student and closed it tight when he was inside. They faced each other.

"Mr. Elric, I'm sure you've seen the three-headed dog."

"Yeah, sure... What about it?" Ed said slowly, like he wasn't very sure and raised his eyebrow suspiciously. _'Probably about something the dog is guarding.'_

"Do you know what it's guarding?" Quirell pressed on.

_'He seems a little too eager to know'_. Ed thought and put up a fake frown. "So, wait... There's a dog with three heads in this school? And on top of that it's guarding something? Isn't that weird, why would someone let a dog guard something?" he asked, in a fake tone of surprise while putting his hand to his chin and tilting his head a little, pretending to be deep in thought.

Quirell's jaw nearly dropped. "W-w-wait, you didn't know about the dog!?!?!" He was whispering, but he sounded frustrated.

"Hmm... Yeah, I've never seen a dog inside the castle. I know Hagrid has a dog, it doesn't have three heads though. You sound a lot more like the professor I know now." Ed smirked mischievously.

"Let me talk to the boy..." A strange voice said. It sounded like it was gasping for air.

"But master! What if he tells someone-" He sounded scared.

"He will not." The strange voice cut Quirell off mid-sentence.

"Yes, master."

Quirell began unwrapping his turban, all the while giving Ed a hard stare. The order didn't seem to please him at all. Ed's gaze followed some garlic as it rolled out of the turban and onto the floor. Still looking at the floor, he saw the professors feet turn around. He looked up straight into the back of Quirell's head, which was being occupied by another face.

_'Wow, that's disgusting...'_ Ed's face crumpled up; when some memories of the time he was really eleven years old came back.

"Do not be afraid, child..." The voice whispered. "I merely want to talk to you."

"Alright, alright... But first..."

The face looked confused; Ed ignored it and walked in front of Quirell, who was also confused. Before any more emotions could pass over his face he was knocked out cold by a punch in the gut from Ed. The professor who was slumping to the floor was grabbed by Ed and placed lying face first on the floor. Satisfied, the golden haired teen swiped his hands, and looked down at the face of the unknown man now staring up at him.

"Okay, you can talk now. So, who are you?"

"Hmpf, smart move, now I can't do anything to harm you, is it? I'm guessing you're the son of Hohenheim. I am Lord Voldemort." The face smiled, although some feeling told Ed it was supposed to be a kind smile, it turned out really evil and somewhat scary.

"That's some evil smile you got there." Ed remarked.

"Huh? Oh... I didn't mean to... So are you his son or not?"

"Yeah, I'm his son... What's it to you?" Ed hesitated slightly before saying anything. He wasn't so sure if this was the right move. In this moment, he wasn't really sure if this man was trustworthy.

"I hate to admit it, but frankly speaking, I need your help. Your father helped me in the past, but then I was defeated by that damned old coot who runs this school. Your dad was pretty old so he couldn't do too much. I'm guessing he died by now."

"You're right, he's dead." Ed replied without a trace of sadness. "So what is it you need my help with?" Ed pulled out a chair and sat on it, he figured this could turn out to take some time.

"Well, I'm sure you've seen Dumbledore. From what I've gathered, that crazy old man is trying to plunge the ministry into chaos and is blaming me for everything. He made sure the ministry only employed useless people. He killed the Potters. I tried to protect them, but then he killed me as well. Luckily I tore my soul apart before that to ensure my survival. That man is twisting everyone's minds! He made the public believe that I was the one who killed Harry's parents. I tend to lose my temper really fast though, so all my followers think that I'm an evil dark wizard who is fighting to kill off all the muggle-borns and half-bloods, only your dad understood me. I haven't dared to tell the others. I think they'll try to kill me if they found out, also I haven't figured out what Dumbledore is really after. I doubt he has such a shallow goal." All that was said between the creepy breaths that came from the back of the now unconscious Quirell's head.

"Well, of course they'd think you're evil. Besides, you're the one who's using dark magic and splitting your soul, isn't it?"

"Of course you are right. Dark magic is something I had gotten unhealthily addicted to in my teen years. It isn't the first time I've thought about that. And you wouldn't believe what I found while thinking back to the time where it all started..."

"What?" The teen asked impatiently.

"When I first got in contact with dark arts, it was from a book. I received that book on Christmas in my second year. Only a small note was left on it, it said: _'Enjoy'. _At that time, I didn't think much of it, but now I know it was to cover up his traces. The small note burst into flames just after I had read it. That handwriting never left my memory. It was slanted and loopy, very even and readable. Dumbledore's handwriting, I realized."

"So, he's been planning this since your childhood, or possibly even longer... First thing's first, have you stopped using dark magic?"

"Ehh... Yes. Only when I possessed Quirell, I needed them."

"Good, keep it up... Hmm... Do you have any real allies at all, in the moment?" Ed asked skeptically.

"Well yes... One... Sirius Black. He was James friend and I managed to tell him of Dumbledore's ploy. But he's in Azkaban, the ministry thinks he was the one who betrayed the Potters and killed Pettigrew, another friend. They didn't even give him a trial..." Ed nodded slowly taking in the information. So practically, this guy had no true followers and was half dead.

_'That's just great...' _"Wait! Tell me about the Potters. Why did Dumbledore want to kill them?"

"At that time, the current Divination teacher was having her interview. Snape told me that some prophecy was spoken about Harry. Apparently it said he would kill someone powerful who had hidden goals. Snape probably thought that was me, but I knew better. Sadly enough, the Potter's house was guarded by the Fidelius charm and they had a kid, so they had to be very careful not to let people find out where they were hiding. I eventually tracked down Sirius Black and managed to show him, that Dumbledore was the evil one. But he wanted to confirm something first, so he told me to wait there. He confirmed for himself that Dumbledore was not what he seemed to be and told me the location on the Potters house. So I went ahead of him, but I was already too late. Dumbledore had just defeated James when I arrived. I heard some noise coming from the top, so I dueled Dumbledore in hopes of stalling him long enough to at least let Lily Evans and her son escape. I was halfway up the stairs dueling with the old man, when she came out of the room. I took a glance at her to see that she was relieved to see Dumbledore. Unfortunately, that quick glance got me stunned. I couldn't do anything and I had to watch how the old man told Lily to give him her baby. She must have noticed something was wrong, because she didn't give Harry to him. He told her he wouldn't kill her if she handed him her baby. She still refused, now more than before. So he killed her." Voldemort paused for a bit, to get some air. Ed slowly went over the information for himself again. The least that could be said was that the whole event was twisted and confusing.

"When he was about to kill the boy, I just managed to break free of Dumbledore's spell and cast something to protect Harry." He sighed. "Dark arts, I'm sure you could guess. But it kept Dumbledore away from using harmful spells on him. And it still will, unless he finds some way to break the spell, it will only break when Harry reaches 17. In the process of using the spell, my last piece of soul remaining in my original body left my body."  
_  
_"So, basically you want help getting rid of Dumbledore the shepherd and his sheep, which is the ministry, and righting the wrong image the public has of you, is that it?" Ed asked.

"Yes, essentially, but I couldn't care less about my image; when Dumbledore has been stopped, I will have reached my goal. But back to the thing that the giant three-headed mutt is guarding, it is the philosopher's stone." Ed jumped out of his seat, but before he could say anything Voldemort continued.

"I know what you're thinking; Hohenheim has told me about the stone in your world. I am not sure how the stone here is made, and we don't know if it is indeed the same stone that people in your world are trying to manufacture, but it has granted its creator, Nicholas Flamel, an exceptionally long life. I believe last year he turned six hundred and sixty-five. It is also said that it can turn any metal to gold." At this Ed just had to add his comment. "Hah, any half decent alchemist could turn nearly any element into gold." He relaxed somewhat and sat down again.

The presumed Dark Lord continued: "Yes, your father said that too. Anyway, I believe Dumbledore might be trying to gain immortality, but doesn't know how to use the stone yet. I guess he is keeping it here to make sure that no harm comes to it. I tried to steal and destroy it in Gringotts, but he was faster and had it picked up earlier that day."

"Hold on... So where do I come in?" Ed interrupted yet again.

"I need you to help me figure out how to get past that dog. The rest should be easy, except maybe destroying the stone itself." A long silence stretched in the room. It broke when Quirell started to stir.

"I'll try and think of something, Voldie. I gotta go now though. I don't think I want to be caught having punched Quirell in the gut and being late to return to the dorm."

"I hope to see you again; I'll make sure Quirell knows to trust you." With that Ed made his way to the dungeons.

* * *

"Hey Ed!" Where were you?" Malfoy came up to him asking as soon as he climbed through the hole.

"I had to go to the toilet." Ed lied without hesitation and tried a fake blush. It worked surprisingly well.

"Hahahaha, come on, there's still some food left!" While Ed had been out fighting the troll and having a 'nice' chat with Voldemort, the feast had continued in the common room. As it became later, students slowly went to bed as Ed was still eating and thinking about that dog.

"Ed, are you coming?" he heard Malfoy call.

"Yeah sure, just a moment."

He finished up his last piece of cake and went down to get some sleep. Although, he was deep in thought about Voldemort and Dumbledore, just before he fell asleep, he remembered the dream he had. There were two Thestrals; did that mean Al was dead? But then what of the Hippogriff and the Griffin? What did Al have to do with his wand? Soon Ed fell asleep with all these questions in his head. And he dreamed again.

He opened his eyes; he was in the forest again. There they were again: the Thestrals, the Griffin and the Hippogriff. Their shapes contorted and the masses met in the center this time transforming much faster. And within moments Al was standing before him again.

"Al!" He called out and ran towards his little brother.

"Brother!" They hugged each other.

"I wish this weren't just a dream..." Ed said after they released each other, he was glad his brother was okay, at least in his dream.

"Wait, you're dreaming too brother? I thought it was just my dream." Al asked looking puzzled.

"Really? Could this be some sort of telepathy? But it's never happened before so why now? Anyway, how are you Al?"

"I'm fine brother, but I can't remember much about the things that happened during my time as a suit of armor. Winry and the others told me a few things, but I've been trying to remember. How about you brother?"

"Well, as you can see I'm a 10 year old again. I can use alchemy in this world, but there is also this other force that the people here call magic. I know it sounds ridiculous but I can do it too. Father could do it too, but he died. They have a school for learning magic. Now, I'm in my first school year. The old man said, he thinks I can't get back to the other side of the gate, but I'm not giving up!"

"Hahaha! It seems you got over your hatred for him. And I'm older than you now!" Ed blushed; he felt sheepish and wondered if this was a dream. Was it possible for a dream to feel this real?

"Ed, I'll try my best too, I'll try and help you find a way across from this side as well. But it's going to be tough, because I'm not in the military, maybe I should join?" Al added thoughtfully.

"No, Al. Don't become a dog of the military. You might be asked to go to war, and that would hinder us more than help. It's nice of you to try to help me, but I think I have to figure this thing with magic out by myself. Maybe you could try and find out how this telepathy or whatever it is, works though."

"I will brother, I'll do my best. I hope you can come back soon-" It sounded like Al wanted to say something else, but it was as if he was cut off and turned mute. The forest seemed to move further away, and then the gate became visible. Like he was moving further away from it all, the gate with the forest still visible inside it shrank into the distance. It closed and vanished, leaving Ed alone surrounded by the blinding white.

He woke up, but didn't jump out of bed. _'This telepathy thing... Could it have something to do with Halloween?'_

_

* * *

_

November made Ed feel really good that he didn't have his automail. The chilly weather would have made is ports ache really badly and he might have actually gotten frostbite from the metal. From what he understood Quidditch season had just begun and the first game was to be played in a few days, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. During a break one morning he was looking out of a window and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione standing with their backs to a blue fire in a jam jar. After the troll incident the three had become close friends. Secretly, the golden eyed teen was hoping that Gryffindor would win. He didn't particularly like the Slytherin team. They acted like the biggest ass-holes in the world. After watching the trio a while, Snape came into view. He walked up to them and snatched a book from Harry's hand. Harry scowled when Snape turned around and Ed had to smile at the scene. He found it amusing how Snape was really childish sometimes, a lot like a certain colonel. As he watched Snape walk away though, he noticed the man was limping.

_'Hmm... Strange... Could it be from that wound I saw?'_ even though Ed was curious about it, he couldn't just walk up to him and ask. He probably wouldn't get a straight answer.

"We're going to be late for class if you just stand there." Ed spun around to see Draco and cronies waiting for him.

"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that!" And they hurried off to the next class.

Ed hadn't even noticed how long he stood there thinking about that dog again. After lunch he went to the library and fetched himself a book that seemed to talk about telepathy and similar things. He decided to read it during the free afternoon. Malfoy wouldn't disturb him either, because he said he would be going to watch the Slytherins practice one last time this afternoon before the game. So he sat in the library reading. The book said that telepathy wasn't really possible, instead there were these two abilities called 'Legilimency' and 'Occlumency'. Even though it wasn't what he was searching for, it piqued his interest so he read it to the end. After reading it, he remembered how his head of house always stared at Harry. For Legilimency eye-contact was needed, unless one was super skilled. For a short moment he panicked.

_'Did he see the things in my mind? If he did, Dumbledore would know, wouldn't he? Would Dumbledore try to bring me to his side? Do they already know I'm trying to get past the three-headed dog? Damn it...'_

He flipped back to the Occlumency part and tried to see what he could do to learn it. Unfortunately he needed a practice partner. He checked the book out and went back to the empty common room.

_'The others must have gone to watch the practice.'_ He thought and walked further down into his dorm.

Of course, he didn't expect them to be able to help him, and it was much too risky even if they could. It would be really bad for him if anyone of them saw his memories. He took out his wand and decided maybe he could conjure a snake and see if it would know anything. He took out his wand and reassured himself no one would come in and watch him.

A few moments later he muttered: "Serpentsortia." A snake came out of his wand and looked around the room.

It then turned to him and hissed: "What would I be needed for in this empty room?"

"Uhh... Well, I need someone to help me practice Occlumency and was wondering if snakes could do Legilimency. I don't want people to look into my head." Ed hissed back softly. Parseltongue was still a bit difficult for him, even though he did it somewhat unconsciously. Aside from that, he had no idea if snakes could or couldn't do those things and just summoned it on a whim.

"Hmm... Yes indeed, I can do Legilimency... But it is one of the skills, not many know of, not even Parselmouths; because no one bothers to ask. Let us get started..." The snake stated nodding.

After clearing his mind of thoughts and emotions in silence, he practiced and got the snake to use Legilimency on him to see how strong his barrier was. The snake had rapidly penetrated his mind and broke his mental barrier. Occlumency was just the name for the barrier. Everyone had a natural barrier, but without training it was very weak. Just as Ed was getting the hang of it, voices could be heard in the common room.

Swishing his wand, Ed muttered: "Thanks for your help. Vipera Evanesca." The snake vanished and Ed was just in time to flop onto his bed, grab his book and look casual, when Draco came in, soaked.

"Man, you're lucky you didn't go out. It started pouring like mad. What's that you're reading?"

"A book on Legilimency and Occlumency." Ed said, closing it and showing Draco the front cover of the book. It wouldn't matter if he knew what he was reading; just that he didn't see him practicing it with a snake.

"Cool! Are you going to try and do them? Let's learn it together."

"Err... I don't really like my memories being read..." Ed said, but the other blond was persistent.

"Come on, if you don't like it being read, then it's better I see it than someone else, right?" He grinned at Ed, who was debating whether or not it was safe to tell anyone. He hadn't even told Harry. "There can't be that many bad things in your mind right?" Malfoy kept insisting.

After a long while in which Malfoy had a grin on his face and Ed stared at him, Ed finally caved in. He didn't know what made him give in, but he was sure it wasn't logical reasoning. It just felt right. "Alright... But! If you ever get to see anything in my head, don't ever tell anyone about anything you see."

"Then you do the same for me, especially not my parents, you hear me!"

Both of them laughed, and they went over the instructions in the book. After they were able to make sense of the information, Ed got to try first. He only practiced Occlumency with the snake so he wasn't sure how exactly this worked. He tried to put himself in his target's, namely Draco's, situation, tried to recall what it felt like to be in that situation. He stared at his counterpart, trying to focus. Draco locked eyes with him, so as to make it easier since they were only practicing. After a while, he could see a faint image of Draco as a kid, he was walking around in his house. Ed tried to focus more on the image that became slightly more focused through the effort. Then Ed had to close his eyes and started rubbing them with his hands. He just found out it was extremely straining.

"Well? Did you see anything?"

"I saw your house, I think. It wasn't a very clear view though."

"You did it Ed! I _was_ thinking of my house. Okay! Let me try!"

While Malfoy attempted to get into his mind, Ed tried to think of something not related to the other world. He tried to think of the Hogwarts castle. But that led him to think of the house he was living in now, which made him think of its owners. That in turn led him to think of Al and his mom. And then to the thing he absolutely did NOT want Draco to see. The gate, looming ominously over him with its huge closed double-doors. Whatever he tried to focus on the gate always pushed its way to the front of his thoughts. Maybe because that was exactly what he didn't want to think about.

"Woah..." Malfoy leaned back a bit too much and lost his balance, resulting in him falling onto his back, but he caught himself in the last second. "What _is_ that thing!?" He looked at Ed; his expression was of pure shock.

The Amestrian looked at the floor, and clenched his fist. "That was exactly what I didn't want you to see..."

"Well, I saw it now, so you can tell me right?" He didn't seem further disturbed by what he saw.

"No, I can't." Ed really didn't think telling him would be a good idea.

"Well, alright... Maybe not now, but you _will_ tell me someday. I'll make you." Malfoy grinned.

Just then, Crabbe and Goyle came into the room. Both pairs looked at each other for a while. "So you were in here! We were wondering why you didn't come to dinner!"

"Argh damn! I'm going to starve!" Ed's stomach confirmed his statement.

"It's okay, you can have ours." Goyle said while unloading his stack of food onto the table.

Both Ed and Draco got up and ate as much as they could from the stack that Crabbe and Goyle brought._ 'Sometimes it's good to have two fatsos around...'_ Ed thought as he finished the last bit.

"Thanks you guys." Malfoy said, but Crabbe and Goyle had already toppled over in bed and were fast asleep.

"Maybe I'll tell you one day..." Ed said to Draco who smirked.

When they were both in bed, the platinum blond suddenly said: "Oh yeah! I just remembered why I thought your eyes are strange."

Ed frowned a bit at that, but then said: "Oh really? And why's that?"

"Well, golden eyes are unusual for people. I read that a werewolf's eyes are that shade and I heard rumors a Basilisk's eyes are golden too, or at least yellow... you sure you're not a werewolf?"

"How could I be a werewolf? Crabbe and Goyle haven't been eaten yet." Both of them had to laugh.

"Better sleep well; tomorrow's the big game, 'night." Draco said and no more could be heard from him that night.

_'I wonder if I'll dream about Al again...'_ Ed thought and fell asleep.

_

* * *

_

The next day Ed got up extra early. He was a bit disappointed that he didn't get to see Al this night.

_'Maybe it really is because it was Halloween... but why? Argh... It doesn't make any sense... '_

In the midst of all his head scratching and hard thinking, he remembered he hadn't wished Harry good luck, so he picked up a quill and a piece of parchment scribbled 'good luck' on it in his neat hand-writing and signed it. Then he made his way to the Owlry. It was kind of weird to do it this way, but a lot of trouble could be avoided for him and for Harry, if no one knew who Ed was rooting for. After tying it to Harry's owl, the golden-eyed teen decided to jog back to the common room. It was a cool morning; the sky was nearly cloudless after the last day's heavy rain. When he reached his destination, Ed proceeded with his daily morning exercise. He was glad he got up a bit earlier, because the whole house of Slytherin must have been up nearly an hour earlier than usual. The whole place buzzed with conversations about the Quidditch game. The great hall was no exception either. Ed followed the conversation between Draco and Blaise Zabini, another Slytherin who seemed to be extremely blood prejudiced.

He wouldn't talk to Ed and even told Draco a few times to ignore the golden blond boy, whereupon Draco had said: "Ed's cool. He can't be as bad as you say, else he wouldn't be in Slytherin and he's definitely not a mud-blood." Blaise then proceeded to ignore Malfoy for a few days, but after those few days were up, he continued ignoring Ed and only occasionally talking to Draco.

During the conversation, which Ed found to be very boring, the mail arrived and Ed glanced at the Gryffindor table every once in a while. Out of the corner of his eye, Ed saw how Harry flashed a small smile in his general direction.

11 o'clock found almost all the students in the tall wooden stands surrounding the field. Apart from some people who weren't interested or had to study, the other students who weren't in the stands were in the changing rooms, getting ready for the match. Excited talking was carried across the whole pitch. Some people made colourful banners to encourage the players. Finally when the players marched onto the field, the noises died down, all attention was focused on the forthcoming game. Madam Hooch, the referee, was already standing in the middle. After some words from the referee the players mounted their brooms and shot into the air. The game was really fascinating, much more than it sounded from the books. It was played on three levels, one was the catching of the Snitch, the second was the scoring of points through the hoops and the third was the beating of the Bludgers. Even though it might have sounded chaotic, which it probably was to the players, for the audience it seemed to all blend together. Not long after the game started Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor scored a goal. The Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and especially the Gryffindors cheered and roared as loud as they could. The Slytherins meanwhile were shouting lots of 'boos' as loud as they could. Ed had to cover his ears, it was just too loud, and the commentator, a Gryffindor, was being super annoying. Professor McGonagall had to repeatedly remind him of his duties.

After a while the commentator broke off his sentence to ask: "Wait a moment... Was that the Snitch?"

All heads turned to watch Harry and the other seeker chase after some small speck of gold that avoided the two at an incredible speed with unbelievable agility. Even the chasers on the field were too distracted; the guy who was holding the Quaffle let it fall. Just as Harry sped up and almost had the Snitch, Marcus Flint, the Slytherin team captain banged into him real hard. Harry went spinning and a foul was called, Gryffindor was given a free shot. The Snitch seemed to have flitted off somewhere again, during the entire ruckus. The game continued normally with Gryffindor in possession of the Quaffle, the commentator however had tried to take sides with Gryffindor on that foul, but McGonagall was being very strict with him. Ed thought she could at least defend her own house once in a while and look at the situation. Just afterwards a Bludger nearly flew into Harry's head and Harry's broom started lurching around wildly. For the first few seconds Ed thought it was because Harry was shocked and lost control, but it started zooming in zigzags around the field. Harry held on for dear life, but no one else noticed. Ed panicked a bit; Harry's life was in danger.

_'Damn it who the hell would do this?'_ He thought.

Slytherin scored a goal and everyone in the stand he was in, cheered. It struck him that Quirell must have been behind this. He tried to tell someone that Harry was in danger, but couldn't get their attention. Then finally after the cheering on Slytherin's part died down, people started noticing how strangely Harry's broom was behaving. Many gasps could be heard as Harry's broom gave a particularly violent jerk and Harry was now dangling from it, only his hands gripping the broom as best he could. While all the Gryffindors were worrying about their young seeker, the Slytherin captain seized the chance and scored five times, but no one really cared except for him. Suddenly professor Quirell was knocked forward and a bright blue flame erupted on professor Snape's robes, who sat just in front of Ed. It took him a little while to notice, but as soon as he reacted the flames died down again. Then Harry seemed to regain control of his broom and was able to successfully climb back on it, but then the broom sped towards the ground at lightning speed. Ed nearly thought Harry lost control again, but as he rolled onto the floor, hands covering his mouth, it became obvious this time, control was not the issue.

"I caught the Snitch!" Harry proudly proclaimed to the whole school, after spitting it out of his mouth. He raised his hand into the air showing everyone the Snitch he caught. Flint was going on and on about how Harry didn't catch it, but almost swallowed it. But he was ignored, it wasn't a foul, no rules were broken. Gryffindor won.

Ed was heading back to the castle on his own when Harry caught him and dragged him to Hagrid's hut together with Ron and Hermione for tea. Introductions were made and they all sat down waiting for the tea to boil up. They were still discussing the match.

"It was Snape," Ron was explaining, "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid, "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

Ed decided to keep his suspicions to himself. He knew Quirell did it, but if he said anything they would surely suspect him of something. Since Quirell always pretended to stutter, he would be the least suspicious of all people. But this was something he didn't see. _'Snape was muttering and watching Harry? No wonder it took Quirell so long to even get Harry to fall off. Snape must have been trying to stop him.'_

"I found out something about him," Harry told Hagrid, after the three looked at each other, seemingly deciding whether or not to tell Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

A loud clang could be heard because Hagrid had just dropped the teapot. "How do you know about Fluffy?" he said, disbelievingly.

"Fluffy?" All four of them asked, while raising their eyebrows. "Yeah... he's mine... bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year... I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-" He stopped short, possibly remembering he wasn't supposed to say anything about this.

"Yes?" said Harry eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it." Harry retorted.

"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher; he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" cried Hermione. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid; I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh... yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel..."

"Aha!" said Harry, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid who, by that time was quite furious kicked them out of his hut.

"You guys need to tell me what's going on." Ed said; he was going to see how much they already knew.

All three looked at him, suddenly remembering Ed wasn't up to date on all these things. Quickly agreeing he could be trusted, they told him all of their suspicions, before reaching the castle, because no one would hear them out here where there was no one around.

* * *

I know the garlic thing is a little strange and I hope the conversation isn't too confusing.  
Like always, I hope it was enjoyable. Review if you feel like. Thanks!


	11. Christmas Holiday?

A/N Thanks to all who reviewfed once again!

Sorry for the last chapter! When I first uploaded it, I had no idea that I spelled Lily wrongly! And then when I edited it, then like half of the chapter was in italics. x.x so sorry for that, I have no idea why it became like that.

And sorry for this late update, my computer and internet are being funny, so I just couldn't upload it yesterday...

About some of the reviews... Yes, I do plan on letting Ed use alchemy and magic, but in the moment there's just nothing to use it on! And about who is on which side... It will be revealed in time, I guess.

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Dinner took place as usual.

Many were still talking about the fabulous Quidditch match, somewhere along one of the tables shouts of: "He nearly swallowed it!" could still be heard.

Others from that very table were swearing to win the next match. Only one person at that table wasn't frustrated about the lost match. The golden haired, golden eyed teen was poking in his food thinking about all the new information he received that afternoon.

_'They know that whatever was in the vault is now in Hogwarts under protection of that dog, Fluffy, and other stuff. They know that Snape had tried to get past the dog, but they didn't know why... Snape probably tried to stop Quirell from getting in there because he thought Quirell wanted to use the stone. I know all that, but who's Flamel? Oh yeah... He was the guy that studied Alchemy with Dumbledore. Hmm... I wonder if he realizes what Dumbledore is trying to do.'_

Of course Ed had taken into account that the supposed evil wizard could have been lying to him. He didn't trust him fully, but he was almost certain that he hadn't been lying. The other reason, Ed had decided to go along with Voldemort was that between him and Dumbledore, he would choose Voldemort, unless he decided to go by appearance. The headmaster was way too elusive and had an odd twinkle in his eyes. Really, it was so unnatural, he might have put glitter on them.

"Ed, are you alright?" someone beside him asked.

"Uhh, yeah, I guess... I'm just upset about the Quidditch match." The quick lie was not questioned.

"Aww, come on Drakie! Leave the poutie alone, he can sulk on his own." An annoying voice opposite him called.

It was Pansy Parkinson, a really, really, really annoying person. She liked to hang around Malfoy. To Ed she was like a female Crabbe and Goyle combined in one, except maybe she was a little smarter, definitely louder and couldn't be used as easily as the other two.

Malfoy ignored her and said: "Cheer up; we still have a chance against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

"Yeah, you're right."

Thinking about the stone was probably not a good idea while at the eating table, other people might suspect something if he wasn't eating his usual amount. So he shoved the stupid stone to the back of his head and chowed down food at record speed. The other blond started laughing and Pansy only shook her head. Ed left as soon he gobbled up his desert, others stayed and enjoyed it. Draco left together with Ed. They walked in silence for a while, but not for long.

As soon as they were far enough from anybody, Malfoy just had to ask: "I know something's on your mind. I can help, you know..."

"It's fine... Nothing to worry about."

"Somehow I do think it's something to worry about. It's really not like you to poke around in your food before eating it. Is it about the thing I saw?"

"Uhh... No, not really."

"Then, what's up?"

Ed sighed, the innocent concern that could be heard in his companion's voice reminded him too much of his little brother. "I'll tell you when we get back to our room..." Ed gave in; he had never really been able to resist his brother's questioning before.

One way or another Al always had his way of getting answers and worst of all (for Ed) he always won at whatever they did! The only time he won was that one time at the hospital...

After that no one said anything before they reached the entrance to the common room.

"So what's up Ed?" Draco asked again, when both of them sat on their respective beds and faced each other.

"Well... I'm not sure if I should tell you about this..."

"Hey, I can handle anything!" the other retorted.

"Argh! Alright, I'll tell you, if you swear not to tell anyone else, and I mean it. Both of us could get in trouble if anyone found out."

"What kind of trouble are we talking about?"

"Hmm.... Azkaban... Or maybe a death sentence..." Ed secretly hoped this would scare the platinum blond enough to keep his nose out of it.

"Well, if it's something that big, then there's no need to keep it all to yourself. I swear not to tell anyone of anything about this matter."

The golden eyes closed briefly and he let out a sigh. So Ed told him everything from Quirell to Voldemort's plans down to the Philosopher's stone, but not about the gate, if possible he was going to keep his past to himself. Ed recounted to tale in barely more than a whisper, even if anyone else was in the room, unless they were beings with super hearing abilities, they wouldn't have heard anything. Afterwards, both of them sat quietly on their bed.

"But if you-kno-"

"Voldemort" Ed cut in.

The other blond still cringed at the sound of the name, but was trying to relax, in the past thirty minutes, Ed had been spewing the name non-stop as if it were any other ordinary name and even occasionally throwing in a few nicknames.

"Alright... Voldemort... was here personally, why can't he handle this on his own?" The gray-eyed boy hesitated quite a bit before saying the name.

"Well, for one, he's not sure what Dumbledore has done with the stone to keep it out of his reach. The second reason being, he can't move around too freely, even as a teacher. The third being he doesn't know how to destroy the stone. The last reason is because Dumbledore doesn't know about my abilities."

"What abilities?"

_'Oh crap... Why couldn't I just leave that out? Oh well, let's try the truth and hope he doesn't ask too much more.'_

"Well... I can do alchemy..."

"What?! Alchemy? I thought only Dumbledore and his friend Nicholas Flamel could do alchemy."

"Well... about that. I think there is a difference between my alchemy and their alchemy. I've been trying to find out what it was with their alchemy, so I checked the library's restricted section..."

"You went into the restricted section of the library?!?" Malfoy asked quite visibly shocked.

"I thought the books would scream at you if you didn't have permission."

"Well... you could say I made friends with them..."

Malfoy looked like he wasn't going to believe it and was about to ask more questions, but stopped because footsteps could be heard outside the room.

"Look... Let's stay up late, with the excuse of doing homework... Tomorrow's Sunday anyway. I'll tell you later..." Ed whispered and finished just as the two fatsos AND Pansy came in.

"So you were here! I turned my head for a second and you disappeared! I was so worried! What're you two doing?" She said raising an eyebrow.

"Draco was just telling me all about his father's job. That man could only be described as a genius, I must say!" Ed replied looking quite impressed, it was all an act of course.

"Of course he is! And so is my Drakie! Because I'm going to marry him!" She said looking quite high and mighty. Ed just rolled his eyes picked up his school books, a roll of parchment and a quill muttering something about homework and walked out into the common room.

"Oh, yeah... I gotta do mine as well..." and with that Draco followed Ed into the common room. They did their work separately, only once in a while the platinum blond would ask the other a question or two. Other people were working there as well, since most Slytherins didn't like spending a lot of time in the library, where muggle-borns and half-bloods studied. They practiced some spells to pass the time after they were halfway through with their written homework. It was annoying that today of all days the others were trying to stay up late.

Ed was trying to figure out what to tell Draco. It was indeed a shock to him when he first went into the restricted section of the library. Books were all whispering around him. The first book he opened was going to scream at him, when it looked confused. It then started a strange conversation with him about how he wasn't as old as he looked. Other books started to join in and Ed remembered feeling lucky that he closed the library door again and that the books were whispering, not shouting around. He had been sure that he would have gotten into trouble if Mr. Filch saw him digging around in the library in the middle of the night. But after calming the books down, as ridiculous as that sounded, they helped him find exactly which one he was searching for.

_'Argh... How am I going to tell him about the library thing, when it involves me telling books, of all things, of my past?!?! And then I have to tell him about my past because he'll no doubt be curious. I can't just turn him down if he goes into Al-mode again... Ah shit! Damn... I can't think of a way out... Me and my stupid big mouth...'_

Time passed as they worked in the noise created by the others. Ed frantically made up excuses in his head and tossed them in his imaginary waste paper basket seconds later. Nothing he could come up with was even remotely convincing in his own ears and then the two of them were alone, back to written homework. The scratching of quill on parchment filled the room. It was painfully silent, until Ed decided to break it. He sighed a really loud sigh.

"You really do have some explaining to do." Malfoy said, finally looking up from his parchment. His cold-gray eyes told Ed that they're owner didn't just sit around mindlessly doing homework either.

"Yeah, I realize... I just don't know where to start."

"How about starting with alchemy? What is alchemy anyway?"

"Hmm... Well like I said before, alchemy in this world is different than what it was in my world."

"Your world?"

"Yes, well... I don't really want to talk about it, but because of some events I ended up here. In this world alchemy seems to be different, like a more basic form of magic. Although you could do magic without a wand this way, only magic that involves transfiguration is possible and the thing is: you need an array. Drawing the array takes way too long, so in the end wands are more convenient." Ed made a pause as if thinking how best to explain his next point. "Well, alchemy in my world also involves an array and transfiguration, but it follows laws. Like the law of equivalent exchange. It means something can only be gained when you trade in something of the same value. You can't make something out of nothing."

"Where does that big black gate come in? And why did V-Voldemort pick you?" Malfoy, who had been listening silently, asked and stumbled over the name once again.

Ed sighed again. He was doing that too often in this world, really. He just didn't feel like explaining all this to anyone at all. "That's the gate of truth or true knowledge. I came through that thing and ended up here. I really don't know how to put it, but that thing kind of regulates alchemy, like... it makes sure that the mass that is obtained is the same as what was given, else it'll make sure it's the same. And for some reason people who see what's in the gate can do alchemy without a circle, so that's one of the reasons he asked me to help, I guess." Ed took a deep breath and made another pause. Spilling so much information in one go was very unusual for the young alchemist, but for reasons unknown he had a strange feeling he could trust his new found friend.

"So, he wants to destroy the stone, but doesn't know how to do it... Are you going to do it with alchemy?"

"Yeah, I think that's the only way, but I still have no clue how to get past that dog..."

"How about asking my dad? I'm sure he could easily find out how."

"No, we can't do that. I don't want any more people to be involved and I'm not sure your dad actually wants to achieve the same thing as the guy he's working for. I didn't even plan on telling you. We have to do this on our own."

"Hagrid owns the dog right? Maybe he knows how. Quirell could get him drunk in a bar or something."

"That's actually a good idea... Now the only other problem, Harry thinks Snape is trying to steal the stone. We need to make sure he doesn't get to the stone; else he might get the wrong idea. He trusts Dumbledore too much; it's going to be really hard to convince him that the headmaster is the evil one." Ed added thoughtfully.

"We can worry about that later. For now we need to set our plan into action and we can't do that 'till tomorrow sometime. It's not too late yet, want to practice Legilimency and Occlumency?" Draco pointed out.

"Sure, since you already know too much about me." The other stifled a laugh; other people were trying to sleep after all.

* * *

The days passed by and the two practiced regularly at night. Sometimes Ed would secretly go to the library, but those were the only occasions when they didn't practice. During the day Ed tried to hang out with Harry, Hermione and Ron more often, so as to keep tabs on them. The day after Malfoy found out what was going on, the platinum blond went to tell Quirell of their idea. It wasn't easy finding him, let alone making sure that no one overheard them, but somehow he managed. Soon December rolled around the corner, Draco and nearly every other Slytherin would be going home. Ed was the only one who was staying. Alphonse had to go and hold an important talk somewhere in Spain and Trisha had to work on Christmas too, because the time when first years came back home a lot of underage wizardry happens. They wrote him a letter that told him they were sorry that they couldn't be with him on Christmas, and that he could still go back to the house if he wanted to. Secretly, he wasn't sure whether to be happy or not. He still felt awkward at just the thought of spending time with them and he didn't really feel ready to talk to them. But it was also a chance to do more reading. He had read quite an amount of the books in the normal section of the library already, but he wasn't satisfied with just those, as an alchemist striving to gain knowledge was part of his life. Aside from that, he was helping Harry and the other two find out who Flamel was. Although he already knew who he was, he wasn't going to tell them, because the information he got was from the restricted section and he really didn't feel like explaining all that crap again, he told Draco before they fell asleep one day and it was so confusing. If possible he was going to avoid doing that again. And he also had to keep tabs on the nosy trio. On the last Friday morning before the holidays many students were very excited to go home and even though it was Snape's class a lot of people chatted during the lesson.

"I do feel so sorry for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they aren't wanted at home." Pansy said out loud. Rather than talking, she should have been working on her potion because she really wasn't the brightest in this subject.

Only Crabbe and Goyle laughed out loud at the statement. Ed and Draco were putting finishing touches to their potion and hardly paid any attention to the chatter. Both of them were bent on getting good marks for this subject and weren't going to let up even if it was the day before holidays began. At the end of the potions lesson, they wanted to go to the library to return some books they borrowed on charms, when a large fir tree stood in their way. The Gryffindor trio were there talking with Hagrid, as they approached, the last bit of the conversation floated to their ears.

"Hi, Hagrid want any help?" Ron asked.

"Nah, I'm alright thanks Ron." The bushy haired man replied.

"Would you mind getting out of the way?" Malfoy interrupted them with a drawl, but then added in a more condescending tone: "Are you trying to earn some extra cash, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose. That hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Ed mentally rolled his eyes, insulting people really wasn't something you should do if you're better than others. He would have to get back to Draco on that. The harsh insult made Ron lose his temper and dive at the taller blond, too bad for him though, Snape had just reached the top of the stairs.

"WEASLEY!" Snape shouted, which made Ron let go of the Slytherin's robes.

"Professor Snape, he was provoked. Malfoy was insulting his family." Hagrid, whose face stuck out from behind the tree, tried to reason with Snape, but Snape wasn't going to see things his way.

"No matter what happened before this, physical violence goes against Hogwarts' rules. I shall take five points from Gryffindor. Be grateful I didn't come a second later, else I might have taken more points." Snape countered, looking down at the three. "Move along all of you." That said, he turned down another corridor and disappeared.

Draco, Ed, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy, who started to follow them everywhere they went, pushed roughly past the tree. A few corridors further away, Pansy saw some upperclasswomen from Slytherin and decided to talk to them, since she had nothing to do in the library. Crabbe and Goyle stayed with her, since neither of them were interested in books. After returning the books both of them borrowed he went to look for the other blond, who went to look for some books to read during the holidays. He found him after a while between two bookshelves, flipping through a book.

"You know, you really should stop taunting the Gryffindors." Ed said, while flipping through a book himself.

"Why's that?" The cold gray eyes looked up to meet bright golden ones.

"Because that's what the low people do, insult others. If you're really a tough guy and your family really is what you claim it to be, stop it. Actions speak louder than words. By insulting others you show them that they pose a threat to your reputation, you're putting yourself on the same level as them. People will realize themselves who's great and who's just average, you don't have to advertise. Besides, what good does it do you?"

Draco didn't say anything; instead he turned back to his book. Ed turned back to his book as well. Soon the librarian could be heard chasing Harry out. Checking the time, Ed tapped Draco on the shoulder. It was time to head to the great hall for lunch. They stayed silent the whole way, Malfoy who seemed to be lost in thought, ignored Ed's shaking of the head as he passed Harry outside the library. Harry's shoulders had slumped a little, knowing that Ed hadn't found anything on Flamel yet.

_'Maybe that was a little harsh...'_ Ed thought as he shoved a slice of ham into his mouth.

For the rest of that day, they didn't speak to each other.

* * *

A few days later, Ed was the only one sitting at the Slytherin table in the great hall. He had an early lunch, because he had opted to sleep in and missed breakfast. The whole school seemed almost deserted. Harry and Ron who were also staying weren't seen very often either. They preferred to hang out in their common room, which of course was understandable. The sheer cold that swept through the corridors made anyone want to sit in front of a warm fire. Christmas Eve would be in a few days. The holiday hardly meant anything to the teen. Last year was the first time in many years that Ed had celebrated some sort of Christmas. Back in Amestris the two brothers hardly had any time to celebrate, they virtually forgot about it. Both of them were always so immersed in their research, that Christmas Eve usually passed like any regular evening.

_'Al surely has time to celebrate now right?'_ He asked himself as he ate lunch in the heavily decorated great hall.

Soon Ron and Harry came down from the tower as well. Hermione had gone back home to celebrate with her family. Ed stood up and walked over to where they sat.

"Hi guys. Slept well?"

"Hey Ed. Yeah, Holidays sure are great. Did you have anything planned for today?" Harry asked still somewhat sleepy.

Some other Gryffindors who stayed gave Ed funny looks when he sat at their table, Ed had to roll his eyes but refrained from shouting something inappropriate at them.

"Nah, besides reading I don't have much to do. What about you two?"

"I'm going to teach Harry wizard chess today. Want to join us?" Ron said cheerfully.

"Might as well, I need a break from reading." Ed answered.

"Sometimes I wonder who the bigger bookworm is, you or Hermione." Harry said.

Wizard chess was exactly the same as normal chess, except you didn't have to move the pieces yourself and the chessmen kept trying to give you tips which were not helpful most of the time. Harry lost every single one of the twenty-five games they played that afternoon. Still he seemed happy just to spend time with his best friend. After that Harry who wanted to take a break switched with Ed, who after a few games had to admit that Ron wasn't half bad. After a while though Ed got better and in the course of the afternoon beat Ron at his own game multiple times.

* * *

Eventually the morning after Christmas Eve came around the corner. Ed woke up a bit miserable that he hadn't been able to see his brother since Halloween and for a moment he was wondering why there were presents in the room.

_'Oh right... Christmas...'_ He thought yawning. He had stayed up late reading again; by now even the prodigy thought it was a miracle he hadn't been caught so far. Rubbing his eyes he made his way to the stack of presents and blinked blearily at it. There weren't many presents, but surely more than he had thought he would be receiving. There were two that looked really odd, so he picked one of them up. It was stuck to the other one and he had to frown in his sleepiness. He brought the tag on it closer so he could read it, the writing was horrible. It said: from Vincent and Gregory.

_'Wait, who are they?'_

It took him a moment to realize who they were and Ed had a suspicion it wasn't because he just woke up. Inside the presents were some weird gooey and mushy looking things, so he tossed them into the bin without further ado, although he did appreciate the thought.

The next present he held up was from Hermione, she sent him some sweets and a Christmas card wishing him a merry Christmas. He popped a chocolate frog into his mouth before opening his next present, the one from Trisha and Alphonse. Looking at the tag brought back some memories of his childhood he was fond of. He opened it slowly, still somewhat lost in memory, but the item inside told him he wasn't in his world anymore. It was a spell book titled: Of our Ancestor's Spells of Olden Times. A Christmas card was also included, it read:

Merry Christmas from both of us, Ed!

We weren't sure what to get you, but we do hope you enjoy this book.

Alphonse bought it in a small shop in Spain and sent it back here.

We're sorry that we can't spend the holiday with you, maybe next year alright?

Ed found it looked interesting, but he wanted to open all the presents before he started reading. So he put the book aside first and picked up the last one of his presents. He knew it couldn't have been from Harry or Ron because they, just like him, weren't allowed to go anywhere and buy stuff, so it was natural they wouldn't have presents to give. Finally he spotted the tiny tag. It was from Draco. Ed opened it, unsure what to expect. A little note was taped to a rectangular object.

Written on it were the words: _'Sorry I was kind of ignoring you the whole day. I had a lot to think about. I guess you're right though. Merry_ _Christmas.'_

Ed blinked a few times, and then took off the note. Under it a marble chessboard was revealed. It gave off a really elegant feeling; the board was like a chest and could be opened, inside lay two sets of marble chessmen nicely cushioned.

_'Wow... It looks incredible...'_ Ed thought, he never really liked or wanted expensive stuff.

He couldn't imagine himself playing with this set at least not with kiddos, so he carefully stowed it into his trunk. He then cleared the wrappings and went to the common room to get his morning workout done. When he went to breakfast he was still yawning, but the feast that spread out before him on the tables was so diverse and everything came in such a huge amount that he seriously had to gape.

_'Some people need to get their eyes checked...'_ he decided.

His own near-perfect-sighted eyes concluded that the sheer amount of food that consumed the surface of the tables was enough to feed _at least_ three times the amount of people the school _usually_ had. Now the blond was wondering if the entire forbidden forest was going to be fed with this. By the time it was cleared away, at least ninety-nine percent of the food had remained untouched. After spending the rest of the morning back in the warm and gloomy common room, he returned yet again to the cheerfully decorated hall, where yet _another_ humongous amount of food awaited the few occupants of the school. Ed wanted to slap his face, but settled for rolling his eyes. Harry on the other hand seemed to be happier than ever. When he was about to head to the library again, both Ron and Harry chased after him and dragged the shortest of the three outside for a snowball fight with the other three Weasleys. It quickly turned into an 'all against Ed snowball fight', because having anyone else on Ed's side made the fight unfair. His movements that had been described by the slicer twins as monkey-like, made this pair of twins give the excuse they couldn't hit Ed because he was so small. After three height insults, Ed's patience on this subject (which had grown immensely during his first year here) snapped and he went all out with his rants.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE COULD DROWN IN A SINGLE WATER MOLECULE!?!?!"

Frightened birds resting on trees in the forest that loomed beyond the grounds flew up into the air, frightened by the sudden yell. This only earned him confused looks from the pure-blood wizarding family, only Harry had a vague idea what a molecule was, but apparently he got his point across... This was a very entertaining fact to the twins who seemed to like making fun of people, in a playful way of course. Just like Mustang, of course... Actually scratch that, this was worse than Mustang, owing to the fact they were twins and there wasn't a Hawkeye breathing down their necks. It was a wonder how Ed kept any other scientific terms out of his numerous tirades that afternoon, but it was done. So it happened, that a still seething alchemist had forgotten to lock the library door when he decided he couldn't study in his rage...

* * *

Sometime during that night he woke up, thinking he heard a really high-pitched shriek coming from somewhere. He stayed silent for a while, listening. Then he told himself that it was most likely a dream, and the tired blond fell back asleep. When he woke up a few hours later, he felt really rested, even though his sleep had been disturbed that night. He started his day cheerfully and even though it was mostly uneventful, he was glad he didn't cross paths with those blasted twins, who had thrown an insult at him every time they passed him the other day. Obviously they and the bastard colonel shared the same kind of humor. Later that night when Ed finished up in the library for the day, he locked up and silently walked away until he turned the corner and bumped into something.

"Uff!" Ed fell down, but was up in the next second, body in a fighting stance.

"Shhhhh! Ed it's just us!" Harry's voice whispered urgently from in front of him somewhere.

Ed raised an eyebrow that should have been impossible to see in the dark. Gaining no reaction from the blond they just bumped into, Harry and Ron's heads appeared out of thin air. Ed took a surprised step backwards.

"Invisibility cloak." Ron supplied, hearing some footsteps somewhere, Harry beckoned Ed to get under the cloak as well. Ed quickly obeyed and then Harry led the way to... Somewhere.

"Where are we going?" Ed asked impatiently.

"Harry said he found this really cool mirror that shows his family in it and he's going to show it to me. Since you're here I guess you're coming along too, right?" Ron whispered back.

It didn't occur to them that Ed being out of bed after curfew was strange so they continued on in silence 'till Ron nearly fell asleep while walking.

A shivering Ron pleaded: "Let's go back. I'm freezing and I feel like I'm falling asleep." Harry had indeed led them around the castle without knowing where he was at all. Just when Ed was about to tell Harry that it really was smarter to turn back, Harry broke into excitement.

"It's here! Just here! Yes!" He half whispered.

Said boy dropped the cloak onto the floor, as soon as they got into the abandoned classroom. He ran towards a mirror that stood nearly as tall as the ceiling. Its frame looked to be of pure gold and the words inscribed over the glass read:

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

Ed read the text out loud a few times trying to make sense of it.

_'I show not your face but your heart's desire.'_ Was that what the mirror did?

"See?" Harry whispered, gaining Ed's attention again.

"I can't see anything..." Ron whispered sounding sleepy.

"Look! They're just there! All of them!"

"I can only see you..." Ron muttered.

"Take a better look; come on stand there where I was standing." Harry willed, he sounded almost desperate to let someone see.

Ed couldn't see anything either. As soon as Ron stood before the mirror, he was wide awake.

"Wow!" he exclaimed.

"Can you see them?" Harry asked hopefully.

"No, but I can see myself! I look older... And I'm head boy! I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to! And, and I'm holding the house cup AND the Quidditch cup! I'm Quidditch captain too!" Ron turned around, the joy still visible in his face. "You think it shows us the future Harry?!"

"No... I don't think so... My whole family's dead. How can it? Ed, you try it... What do you see?"

_'What would I see?'_ he thought for himself as he positioned himself in front of the mirror. There he saw himself, his old self, with metal limbs and all. Al in his normal body, his mom and even his dad appeared. Winry, granny Pinako, Izumi and her husband Sig stood at one side, all of them smiled happily at him. On the other side Mustang and the rest of the people from the office became visible in the mirror. Even Armstrong showed off his muscles in the back. Further back still, he could see the flowing hills of Resembool, and he nearly burst out crying.

"Ed are you alright? What did you see?" Harry asked impatiently.

"The people who always meant the most to me..." His whisper was barely audible. Harry looked at him; it also showed him the people he missed. Did that mean that Ed had people who he really wanted to see as well? Yes, indeed it did, but Harry was too focused on himself at that point to think it out further, he really needed another look at his family. He didn't know what it was the mirror showed, but he had to be sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Let me have another look." He said.

But Ron had other ideas. "You had it all to yourself last night. Let me have another look!"

"There's nothing interesting about holding the Quidditch cup!" Harry retorted.

"Don't push me-" A sudden noise from outside made the whole scene freeze. Just as all three made their way under the cloak, Mrs. Norris stuck her head around the corner. During those short few moments, that seemed an eternity to them, they hardly dared to breath. She looked around a bit then turned and left. They feared she would call for Filch, so they hastily walked back to their respective common rooms. The next day Harry decided to go back. Ron, for once, gave him a good advice by trying to keep him away. Ed had decided not to go back either. He had seen enough, and was determined more than ever to get back, so instead of staring at the mirror he was going to use that time wisely and study more. His dreams about his brother were still occupying his mind every now and again, somehow he had a feeling, it would be able to lead him back to the place he belonged to.


	12. Plans?

A/N Many thanks for the reviews! I hfope the story is advancing at a good pace. I think there are two more chapters for the first year. Okay enjoy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize!!

* * *

The holidays ended and Ed missed the peace and quiet he had had in the common room. It was now buzzing with housemates bragging about their presents and of course, the upcoming Quidditch game. Gryffindor was going to play against Hufflepuff. What interested most was the fact that Snape volunteered to referee the game, which he had never done previously. A lot of people suspected that he was doing it because the lions were on the verge of overtaking his snakes in the house points competition. Ed found himself swearing under his breath for only reading fifteen books in the holidays, now there really wasn't anywhere you could sit down quietly and read, not to mention too little time. And Ed's temper towards inappropriate comments about his height seemed to have circulated the school as well. Draco had fallen onto the floor laughing and rolling around when he found out about his friend's height issues. It took all of his patience and then a little distraction and lots of sweets (brought to their room by Crabbe and Goyle) to not beat the other blond senseless.

_'Damn twins and their stupid blabber mouths...'_

He grumbled while walking towards the great hall, after shouting at some random Gryffindor who insulted him. It was a particularly cheerful morning; the sun was shining brightly through the magical roof of the great hall. The day before had been really stormy, so no clouds could be seen today. Ed munched his breakfast angrily, while the others carefully made sure not to trigger an outburst from their 'short' housemate. The post arrived and some owl Ed had never seen before dropped a letter on his head and grabbed his toast.

_'Shit! Stupid owl! That was my god damned breakfast!'_

Ed was shaking from anger, but hadn't burst yet. The platinum blond boy beside him noticed the unfamiliar owl as well and urged Ed to open it. The seething teen cooled down a bit and opened up the letter.

It read: 'We found out who NF is!'

It had no signature and seemed to be written with the hand the writer was not used to writing with. Ed got up and left the hall, his blond friend left only 10 minutes later. The lion trio still didn't know that the person who had been insulting them was in on their little plan nor did the two of them want the three to know. The two blonds had been facing away from the Gryffindor table, and Draco made sure to only read the letter from the corner of his eye. If the lion trio had found out what 'Fluffy' was guarding, it would only be a matter of time before they somehow came up with strange ideas who was after it and why. Ed paced around in the empty common room. The other people were still enjoying breakfast and preparing for the morning lessons.

"We can't let them get to the stone before we can destroy it. We have to watch them to keep track of how much they know..." Ed mumbled randomly while pacing around a few times.

"I could insult them to distract them you know..." Draco who sat on one of the black sofas offered.

Ed looked up, but then returned to pacing around staring at the floor. "You could... But that won't likely stop them from researching. I could hang out more with them and try to distract them..."

"Well, we could do that. You never know, as nosy as those three have been in the last half year, they might even find out a way to get the secret out of Hagrid before Quirell gets the chance to get to that stone."

Draco had promised not to involve his dad, because he couldn't be trusted. It had pained him that Ed wouldn't trust his dad, but he could see why. If the Dark Lord had really just been planning to overthrow Dumbledore and not rid the place of muggleborns, then his dad had almost completely different goals. Insulting muggleborns was just something that his dad taught him to do and quite frankly he didn't actually agree with it, but after so many years, it was kind of a habit. Also he knew that when he was older, his dad would likely want to make him into a Death Eater, but the idea frightened him. He didn't think killing and torturing people was really the kind of noble deed that people seemed to associate with his family's name. He had however willingly agreed that he wouldn't go and destroy the stone with Ed and the professor. Snape, who they assumed had also been tricked by Dumbledore's innocent and caring attitude, was starting to constantly hound Quirell to try to dissuade him from getting the stone. Before they could plot any further they heard a bell ring and they hastily picked up their bags and left the common room, as much as helping to make the world a better place was important, they weren't planning on dying. If they failed school they wouldn't have a nice life, even if they saved the wizarding community. The two stuck to their rough plan they had made in the common room, at least for now. After classes were over, Ed met up with his three Gryffindor friends in the library at a table in a far corner. They explained their findings to him in hushed tones and asked him if he could possibly keep an eye on Snape.

"As much as I would love to, he seems to be as mysterious to us Slytherins as to you Gryffindors. Not even we can find him all the time. He just seems to randomly appear when he feels like it, and in classes of course." Ed whispered.

"What?! Can't you keep asking him about potions and visit him in the staff room or something?" Ron protested almost too loudly.

"That would seem suspicious, I've never asked for help before." Ed murmured.

"He's right you know, unlike the two of you he knows how to order his priorities." Hermione said backing him up. The other two rolled their eyes, but it didn't seem to bother them as much as at the starting of the school year.

Harry suddenly jumped up. "Oh no! I nearly forgot... We had a last minute Quidditch practice today. I need to go. See you later guys!"

"Good luck, for tomorrow, Harry."

Harry waved to them as he ran out of the library as quietly and as fast as he could. They decided to leave Snape alone until they found out an effective way to spy on him.

* * *

The next day in the Quidditch stands, a great deal of people noticed Dumbledore sitting among them. Hermione and Ron who were sitting in one of the stands suspected that was why Snape wasn't looking too happy. They even brought their wands along, although they didn't tell their golden-eyed friend, who was sitting beside them, why. Just when the players were taking off, someone poked Ron in the back of his head. All three turned around to see the Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle heirs. Pansy was the one who poked Ron in the head, Draco looked disinterested and stared out in the general direction of the pitch, Crabbe and Goyle were laughing like idiots. The poking was followed by insults towards Ron and later Neville, who was also sitting beside the mismatched Slytherin-Gryffindors crew. After a few more insults Ron and Neville were at their limits. They were boiling inwardly, but still somehow managed to control themselves. When Harry suddenly dived down and sped toward the ground, a final insult of "Look he's going to fetch some coin he saw glittering on the floor for you Weasley!" by Pansy made Ron explode.

Somehow his pride though prevented him from smacking a girl, so he dove for Draco, who hadn't said anything to him at all since Christmas break. Needless to say he was quite startled and started defending himself only after he received a punch to his left eye, which was sure to turn into an ugly bruise. In retaliation he gave the fuming Ron a bloody nose. All the while Neville had turned on Crabbe and Goyle, although it was a losing battle he managed himself quite well. Pansy stared in shock at Draco's beaten face, Ed tried to tear Ron and Draco apart, but Ron didn't seem to want to stop and Draco just continued giving back whatever he received. It looked like utter chaos, even the other people around them moved away.

Only Hermione didn't seem to notice or care as she crossed her fingers, watching Harry zoom past Snape in a blur of red. He then abruptly stopped and raised his hand showing the golden snitch he caught.

"He did it! He did it, Ron!" Hermione cheered and jumped on her seat.

The fight suddenly stopped and Ron was cheering as well, with his bloody nose. Draco and Ed quickly escaped the scene, wary of Ron's surprising hitting abilities, leaving behind a sobbing Pansy, a half-beaten Crabbe and Goyle, an unconscious Neville and loads of other cheering people including Ron and Hermione. They hurried down to the common room to brew some anti-bruise goo for Draco. It would be rather embarrassing to walk around like that and it would only make Ron happier. Besides Ed could imagine how much that hurt. He was only able to block a few of Weasley's punches. Back down in their dorm the bruised boy went to take a shower to wash off some of Ron's blood that had fallen onto him in the scuffle. Ed whipped up a potions book and started brewing the gooey potion to heal bruises and then flipped open a transfiguration book and transfigured some water into ice, to cool off the other's bruises. The Malfoy heir was pretty furious; he hadn't even done anything to get hit. Ed wasn't exactly indifferent about it as well. The potion was done and applied to the bruises within an hour. No one had come down to disturb them yet.

"Thanks, Ed. What in the world did I even do to deserve that anyway...?" Draco muttered rubbing at the aching black and purple spots.

"It's probably what Pansy did; she seems to feel the need to takeover where you left off." Ed sighed and put the rest of the substance into an empty glass bottle he found somewhere in his trunk. While digging in it, his pocket watch surfaced, it caught the attention of a pair of grey eyes.

"What's that?" He asked. He knew Ed had some things he didn't feel like sharing with anyone, but curiosity got the better of him.

Ed turned around and saw the watch. "It's a state alchemist watch, you get one when you sell your soul to the military." Ed said, a bitter tone in his voice.

The silver of the watch posed a dragon in a hexagram on its cover. Draco wanted to ask more but kept his curiosity to himself after noting Ed's tone. They resumed practicing Legilimency and Occlumency until the bruises couldn't be seen anymore. Checking the time, they slowly made their way up for dinner. They were still early, but it couldn't hurt to take it easy once in a while. On the way there they saw Harry, Ron and Hermione hurrying off somewhere. They noticed the two and Hermione approached them quickly. Or better said, approached Ed, the other blond knew he was being totally ignored, but he didn't care.

"You're coming with us, Ed." Her tone suggested it wouldn't be wise to argue with her now.

Draco shrugged and said: "See you at dinner then." He then stalked off.

Ed however found himself being dragged into an empty classroom somewhere. Harry checked for any signs of Peeves and was relieved when he couldn't find any.

"When I went to keep my broom in the broom-shed I saw Snape walk into the forbidden forest!" He started in an excited voice, although he seemed pretty troubled. "When he went inside he started running and then he met with Quirell! I tried to hear their conversation and it looked to me like Snape was threatening him. Snape said something like 'Students aren't supposed to know about the philosopher's stone!' and then he asked if Quirell knew how to get past Hagrid's beast! Quirell didn't seem to know. Then he said something about hocus-pocus, I couldn't hear the whole sentence because a stupid owl hooted and scared me. Then Snape said something like 'I'll be waiting.' and 'We're going to have another chat very soon.' and 'We'll see where your loyalties lie'!" Harry spoke so fast it was difficult to understand what he was saying, but from the looks of it, he didn't even hear the whole conversation properly.

Ron's mouth dropped open. "So we were right! Snape's trying to get the stone and he's forcing Quirell to help him! Probably Quirell also played a role in guarding the stone, probably some cool spell or something, and Snape doesn't know how to break it!" Ron's spluttering ended with his mouth hanging open in shock again.

"So you mean the stone's only safe as long as Quirell doesn't give in?" Hermione asked alarmed.

Ed stayed quiet as usual, he didn't like spilling his guts and acting. Although his face also did took on a worried expression. Snape was onto them, but he didn't think any students from his house were involved at all.

_'Argh, sometimes I wish I knew what was going on in his head...'_ Ed thought to himself miserably. Even though he had practiced Legilimency and he wouldn't say he was really bad, he just knew that Snape must have been pretty good at Occlumency and possibly also Legilimency. A beginner's attempt would most definitely alert him to the fact Ed was trying something and his chances wouldn't look good anymore, for forever. If they ever really needed to know what was in his head, this option would have been ruined. The other three looked at him with expectant looks.

He sighed "I could try to distract him, but no matter what I try, it's going to look suspicious."

"Thanks, Ed." Hermione said sheepishly. But then her look became thoughtful.

It finally seemed to have struck her that he was in Slytherin, the house where most of their enemies were. He returned a small grin, but narrowed his eyes at Ron when he left the room, leaving Hermione to explain the beating of the blonde's friend to _both_ Harry _and_ Ron. Since he didn't seem to notice what was wrong.

Pansy stared at the blonds as they stuffed food down their throats. Usually Draco wouldn't eat so much, but Ed explained that the potion helped the body heal the bruises at a speed that was not natural, thus effectively draining the body of energy. After the effects had started kicking in, Draco admitted that he was starting to feel really hungry. Back to Pansy, actually she was mostly looking at Draco, which got annoying after a while.

"Why're you staring at me like that?" He asked, although he tried to conceal it, the ire still dripped from his voice.

It _was_ her fault after all, if it weren't for her insults they might have never noticed them sitting there. Why Ron hit him was still a mystery to him. The stupid girl burst out crying and nearly sobbed on his sleeve, but turned away when he nearly growled at her for almost covering his sleeve in, he was sure, fake tears. He ignored her throughout the rest of dinner. After a while she stopped sobbing, but didn't eat and didn't move. When dessert was nearing its end, she suddenly stood up.

"Come on Crabbe and Goyle! We don't have to hang out with a loser like him!" She barked.

The aforementioned 'loser' gave her a death-glare, while her new servants hastily grabbed some banana muffins into their arms and wadded off after her. He turned to Ed raising an eyebrow. One golden eyebrow raised itself, while golden eyes watched three Slytherins leave the hall. Ed shrugged and finished up his food. Oh well, they had no time to worry about two idiots and a stupid girl, they had a busy spring ahead of them. For one thing, exams were coming up. The other thing was that they still needed to watch Harry and co.; Teachers were starting to give out more homework than the students had ever seen before. Ed took to helping the trio study; it was the most ridiculous thing anyone in the castle had seen for a while: A Slytherin tutoring Gryffindors out of the goodness of his heart (which not many Slytherins could boast of), without mocking them. More and more of them had started to avoid the Malfoy heir; it was something between not knowing which side he was on and the prideful air that seemed to spill off him. They looked at him with respect, not loathing. Only Pansy and goons did, but even that was put off to study for exams. If anyone wanted to prove anything, getting 'T' on exam papers was certainly not going to persuade anyone, not even Crabbe and Goyle. Somewhere between all the chaos Ed noticed his birthday was forgotten. But really, in the moment he couldn't care less.

"Dittany makes skin stretch over a wound, Harry." Ed said as he glanced at Harry's Herbology notes, after walking into the library.

It was now Easter holidays and Hermione had Harry and Ron studying with her. Harry blinked and quickly corrected his notes.

"Aren't you supposed to be distracting Snape right now?" Hermione questioned in a hushed tone after checking the time.

"Yeah, I was. He answered my questions patiently, until today. Today he said he was busy and assured me I could find my answer in the library. Sorry guys, I failed." Ed whispered, rolling his eyes. Really, wasn't this to be expected?

The action went unnoticed to any of them because they were busily studying. On another note, Hagrid's enormous footsteps resounding in the library made them look up again.

"What're you doing here Hagrid?" Ron asked probably to get away from his homework.

"Jus' lookin'..." Hagrid replied. He looked like he was hiding something behind his back and the way he answered made it look really fishy. "Wha' 're ye up to?" He asked back, but then he frowned at them. "Ye're not still lookin' fer Flamel are ye?"

"Nope, but we would like to ask you a few thing regarding the philo-"

Hermione's sentence was cut off by an overly loud "SSHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Don't go shoutin' about! What's the matter with ye?" Hagrid said putting a finger to his mouth, madam Pince looked over at him disapprovingly. Other people started to look at them. "Listen... Ye can come an' see me later and we can talk about this, but I won' promise any answers. We can' talk 'ere, students aren' s'pposed t'know 'bout the stone. Dumbledore'll think I told ye..." He said in such a soft whisper that they themselves barely heard it. Ed was surprised Hargid could whisper, but this wasn't the first time he had wholeheartedly believed something to be correct although it was wrong.

They watched him leave the library, looking about himself as if someone was chasing him to send him to prison. When he was out Ron decided to go look what section Hagrid had been looking at. Surprisingly enough, he came back with a bunch of books about dragons.

"He was looking at dragons? He told me he's always wanted a dragon..." Harry tilted his head in thought.

* * *

The study session Hermione had set up had ended twenty minutes ago and the four were now on their way to Hagrid's hut. When they arrived he quickly let them in, and shut the door so fast, he nearly clamped in Ed's golden braid.

Ed didn't mind the hut, it was usually quite cozy. But today, on this fine spring day, the fireplace was lit, and Ed had half a mind to ask if Hagrid was just insane, before he remembered he was supposed to be friendly with them. The whole hut was so hot and humid; you could have thought you were in a Sauna. Harry ignored it for now and cut straight to the point.

"We were wondering if you could tell us what else is guarding the stone." Hagrid frowned at him. "O' course I can' tell ye. I don' know myself and ye know too much already. It's 'ere for a reason ye know, it was almost stolen outta Gringotts. I guess ye already know that, beats me how ye know 'bout Fluffy..." Hagrid trailed off.

"Oh come on Hagrid, of course you know. You know everything that happens in Hogwarts." Hermione tried the other approach, namely flattering. She could be quite cunning when she wanted to be Ed mused. It seemed to work because Hagrid's smile could be seen under the thick layer of facial hair. "We were only wondering who Dumbledore trusted enough to ask for help apart from you."

"Well... I don' s'ppose it'll hurt if I tell ye who... Let's see... There's Fluffly and then some o' the teachers did some stuff... professor Sprout... professor Flitwick... professor Mcgonagall... professor Quirell.... Dumbledore did something himself o' course... Hmm... I'm forgettin' someone..." He was ticking the professors off his fingers. He then proceeded to scratch his hairy head. "Oh yeah! professor Snape." The three lions paled.

_'It must have been easy for Snape to find out what's guarding the stone, it seems he only doesn't know how to get past Fluffly and Quirell's spell, or something like that.'_ Was what Ed read off their faces. Really, why couldn't they hide their emotions. Oh wait... he remembered that he himself had only gotten better at that over the past year.

"Snape?" A still pale Ron asked.

"Yeah, he helped protect the stone, he's not about ter steal it." Hagrid said.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, right? You wouldn't tell anyone, right? Not even one of the teachers, right?" Harry looked really unsettled by the news about Snape.

Hagrid assured all of them that only Dumbledore and himself knew how to get past Fluffly. The tension level in that hut visibly went down, although Hagrid must have not noticed it was there in the first place.

"Can we open the windows Hagrid? It's steaming in here!" Harry complained.

"Sorry Harry, can' do that." Hagrid said, as his eyes shifted a little to the fireplace.

"Hagrid... What's that?" Harry asked. All the eyes in the room were looking at a black oval shaped _something_ resting in the fireplace.

"Ah.... That's er..." Hagrid began nervously.

"A dragon's egg. A Norwegian Ridgeback, to be precise." Everyone turned to look at Ed. "Read about it in one of the books in the library." He said shrugging. It wasn't true though, he hadn't started yet with the section on magical beasts. The knowledge came from the gate. He hadn't felt the strange voice supplying information to him at odd moments for a very long time. Since the first time he crossed the gate, when his other self from this side of the gate died, he only rarely got information. He did feel sorry for the kid. If he hadn't been so confused about what was going on, the boy probably wouldn't have gotten hit by that bomb. The stupidest thing was that it never gave him information in critical times, so in the end he always had to study up on his own.

"Where did you get it, Hagrid? It must have cost you a fortune." Ron's voice pulled Ed out of his thoughts.

_'Argh... I keep spacing out. I've got to stop doing that...'_ Ed thought.

The redhead knelt by the fire looking at the egg. Hagrid explained that he won it at the bar in Hogsmead last night. He had played a card game with a stranger and won the egg. Ed raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. He had a strange suspicion he knew who that stranger was.

"But what are you going to do when it's hatched?" Hermione asked.

"Well... I've been doin' some readin' and this book 'ere says ter keep 'em warm, 'cause their mothers breath fire on 'em and when its hatched I gotta feed em a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour." Hagrid said looking proud of himself for reading so much in one day.

Hermione looked horrified. She tried to reason with him not to raise the dragon, one of many reasons being that his house was wooden, but he wouldn't listen and continued looking happy throughout the afternoon. Their lives turned back to endless studying and now worry for Hagrid. Ed and Draco were spying on them more often now. How much time would they need to find out that Quirell already knew how to get past Fluffly? How much time did they have to distract Dumbledore and destroy the stone before the old man found out how to use it? Ironically enough, only time would tell, but they had better be quick with getting it over with.

One morning in class Draco scribbled something on a piece of parchment and passed it to Ed under the table.

It said: _'I heard them talking about the dragon hatching, maybe you should randomly bump into them.'_

Ed took a quill and scribbled on it and shoved it back to him. _'Alright, I'll do that. Are you going to watch it hatch from outside?'_ He read it and nodded seemingly randomly at his open book.

They were supposed to be reading.

The bell rang and both of them made sure not to look like they were in a hurry as both of them quickly packed their stuff and left. The morning break had commenced and if they were going to visit, now would be the time. They soon split ways, Draco took a detour, and Ed went to find the sneaky trio. All three were headed towards the entrance of the castle.

"Where're you guys going?" He asked as casually as possible when he passed them.

"Err..." Harry started. They all shared a quick glance.

"The dragon's egg supposedly got crushed by fang when Hagrid wasn't looking; we're going to cheer him up." Hermione supplied. Ed knew it was a lie, but he decided to play along.

"Oh, that's sad. I'll come with you."

"Hagrid's really not in a good mood, you'd just make it worse shorty." Ron tried, Ed glared at him.

They weren't on good terms since the Quidditch incident. Ron glared back and Hermione cut in. "Ed, I think he's right. You wouldn't want to come. You don't know how Hagrid can get when he's sad. Come on you two let's get going."

They left for Hagrid's hut leaving Ed there.

_'That was weird... Oh well...'_ He thought.

"What're you doing here?" Draco asked, suddenly appearing.

"They didn't want me to go with them. You think they know what we're doing?" They were silent for a short moment considering the possibility.

"Probably, not. They're just being a little more cautious around you, since you _are_ a Slytherin. I need to go before I miss the hatching, you coming?" Draco finished shooting Ed a grin.

"Hm... Nah, no need to risk them totally not trusting me. You go ahead." Draco sped towards the hut and Ed went to grab a quick nap before classes started again.

Back in class Draco passed a note to Ed.

_'I heard them talking about you. It seems they don't completely trust you anymore. Not sure why though. We'll have to do a bit more researching on that. I'll tell you about the dragon later.'_

Morning classes had ended and Ed went to the library, he was supposed to meet with Quirell to go over their plan. At this time of the day there was nearly no one in the library, most people were trying to take a break before the next lessons began or were already eating and that didn't call for extra reading. Ed went over to one of the shelves and pulled out a book and stood there reading.

"So, what's the plan?" He suddenly whispered, his voice was almost non-existent.

"We have to play music for it." A voice replied. The face on the other side of the densely populated bookshelf could only be seen through the space of two missing books. "I'll try and get Dumbledore away, but even then we won't have much time." Quirell said. If you didn't know it was him, you wouldn't have known just by hearing, the odd lack of stuttering made his voice seem so very different. "How're things on your side?" He continued.

Ed read a bit in the book, trying to analyze the situation. "They're busy with the problem you presented their friend with." Soft laughing could be heard.

Ed didn't like Quirell, even if he was Voldemort's host, he did try to kill Harry for no reason at all. He didn't like this man very much and it seemed the man didn't like him either. A note was shoved to Ed's side of the bookshelf.

"It's from _him_. I wrote it for him. I don't understand it, but he said you would. I'll contact you when it is time to get the stone." the teacher whispered, then replaced his book on the shelf and left.

Ed flipped the note open. It was a babbling mess of magical creatures and wandwood. He grinned to himself and stuffed the note into his pocket. He continued reading a bit, in case anyone was watching the library and/or Quirell. It wouldn't be good for anyone if someone found out the two were conspiring against Dumbledore, especially not Snape. It wouldn't be good for now anyway. After a bit of light reading, he placed the book back on the shelf and left the library to head for lunch.

"It hatched alright. And it looks really ugly." An evil grin made its way onto his face. "You think I should tell Dumbledore?"

"No, not now at least, it'll distract them." They were sitting at the back of the class and since they were practicing a spell in class today, it was the perfect time to chat. Both of them had performed the charm a few times and the teacher was now trying to help the others.

"I didn't get to catch their conversation 'till the end though, that Hagrid guy saw me and I had to run. They'll probably try to get rid of the dragon now, which is a good thing, if you ask me."

"But if they get caught and a teacher finds out where it came from, the staff might catch wind of what we're doing." Ed mumbled. They practiced the spell a little bit before Ed turned to Draco again. "You mind a little rule breaking?" The other boy looked a bit confused, but shook his head. "Ok, we need to find out what's going to happen to that thing. If they really are getting rid of it, then we need to find out when."

"How're we going to do that? Conversations between Gryffindors are likely to be kept to themselves, so they would probably talk about it in their common room." Malfoy stated.

"We could go into their common room-"

"We don't even know where it is and even if we did, we don't know the password." The taller blond interrupted the other's speech.

"Well, you don't. I do." A toothy grin spread across both of their faces.


	13. The Tallest Tower?

A/N Merry Christmas everyone! (Late for some people)

Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry, for the spelling of Hermione's name... I really never looked at the name properly and just didn't think it could be the other way round. SaphiraIce corrected it for me.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize!

* * *

It was way past midnight, maybe two or three in the morning. Two figures were creeping up the staircases. A piece of parchment was in one of the figures hand. They moved almost completely silently. A wand was lit by a lumos, every once in a while they would glance at the parchment. A name appeared: McGonagall. Some footsteps could be heard. They hid in a corner and banished their little light. It lit up again as the footsteps faded into the distance. They crept further up until they reached a portrait, the portrait of the fat lady. She seemed to be asleep. One of them poked her once and whispered 'pig snout'.

"Okay, okay..." She muttered in her half-dreaming state.

The portrait swung open to reveal a doorway and they stepped inside, still making sure to be as quiet as possible. The golden and blond hair they sported blended in nearly perfectly with the gold and red of the cozy-looking room, only their robes showed any sign that they didn't actually belong here. Ed shoved the piece of parchment he had been holding into his pocket, took out a map from his pocket and looked at it. It looked almost like a book, one page for each floor of Hogwarts, the nearly finished version of the map he lent Draco at the start of the year. He flipped back and forth a bit and then walked to one spot in the foreign common room.

"Here." he said lifting the carpet. The other one followed his golden haired friend to that spot.

"So, there's enough space under this spot to make a small space to eavesdrop from?" Draco whispered.

"There should be."

"Well, time to see your alchemy in action then." Both grinned.

Ed clapped his hands in a familiar motion and placed them on the floor. A blinding blue light flashed and within moments there was a circular hole in the floor leading downward into a small rectangle shaped space, although it was small, it was big enough for them to stand in. Draco whistled softly and raised both eyebrows, he looked really impressed. Ed was extremely pleased with himself as well. He dusted his hands off a bit. They then dropped down into the box-like room and Ed clapped his hands once again and placed them on one of the walls. A hole leading outside opened up, big enough to allow quite an amount of oxygen to come in and out. Both teens took out their wands and faced the wall on the left of the one with the hole. They started planning this two days ago in class. And the night before they smuggled a book from the forbidden section out and studied the spell used on the wall at King's Cross station, the one between platforms nine and ten. It was a warping spell for use on walls. If you walked through one, you would appear at the other end. Both ends had to be cast with the same wand or else they wouldn't connect. So they wouldn't know if they succeeded before they could get back to their own dorm. They casted the spell, muttering the words as quietly as possible. At their age their magical reserve didn't have enough magic in it to do it alone. After that was done they crawled back up into the Gryffindors' common room. The hole was sealed up again, carpet placed back nicely again and two Slytherins crept back out again to their own dorm. They only breathed a sigh of relief when they were back down at said place.

"Where did the stone go that you moved out of the way? You said it needs to be equivalent exchange, right?" Draco asked, after more thoughts than those of not being caught could swim around in his mind.

"I made the wall around the room denser and I also reinforced the floor over the room, so it shouldn't break if someone fat like Crabbe or Goyle jumps on it." Ed replied coolly.

"Ha, like they'll ever stand there." Draco joked back, looking at the two fatsos fast asleep. They looked around the room. "Where d'you think no one'll lean on?" Draco asked.

"That's not the problem actually; we could charm it to only let us through."

"Oh, then how about this wall?"

A pair of golden and a pair of grey eyes looked over to a wall between their beds, two night tables stood in front of it, leaving a narrow room between the two, open for usage.

"Alright it'll do, just make sure you don't become too fat, Malfoy. I'm sure your mom spoils you."

"I'll never grow horizontally, Elric. I only grow vertically, unlike you." Ed turned to him and narrowed his eyes at the statement. "Let's get this over with before Pansy's goons wake up." Draco said, starting to feel uncomfortable being glared at like that by Ed.

Said boy seemed to remember what they had to do and nodded. Casting the second part of the portal was a little easier than the first. But they still had to cast another one, so it would only let the two of them through, plus it was now around half past four in the morning and they still had classes ahead of them. It was over with quickly enough, but testing had to be done.

"Ready?" Draco asked.

Ed nodded and walked towards the wall. Then he stopped.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked again.

"Umm... It's a bit weird... What if I crash into it? What if the Spell didn't work?" Ed was fidgeting a bit, he didn't like the thought of crashing into the wall, effectively waking up Crabbe and Goyle and being laughed at because he walked into the freaking wall. He had his pride after all.

"Well, if you're scared then run, it's easier. At least it was for me when I walked through the wall at the start of term."

That was an even more unpleasant thought, then he'd be in the hospital wing with Crabbe and Goyle laughing at him.

"Are you crazy? Even if it did work, I'd crash into the wall of the room I made earlier." Ed sneered at him in a very Slytherin fashion.

"Oh..." Was all the taller blond managed now.

Ed sighed and tried again, this time he walked up to the wall and shut his eyes. Slowly he placed his hand on the wall, then through the wall. He then leaned harder onto it and he fell through it. He opened his eyes to see his head coming closer towards the wall with every moment. His brain sure didn't want to believe he was falling through it, so he lost his balance and still ended up smashing his head in the wall of the little room, he had made a while back.

THUMP

"OWWWW!" He cried, cradling his head with both hands.

Only after the pain subsided a little did he get the feeling of success. They did it, they made a suitable room to eavesdrop on Gryffindors. Making it sure was fun, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to be fun to actually do it. The hole wasn't really comfortable. Nevertheless, he shoved the thought aside, they had completed part one of their plan, besides that, it could become useful in the future if they ever had to spy on them again. Needless to say after he returned from under the red and gold common room, both of them felt exhausted from the nights events and promptly fell asleep. Because lack of sleep made it that much nicer to sleep, they missed breakfast and were nearly late for their first class that morning, which surprised some of their classmates. Somehow though they managed to stay awake during all of the classes and even take notes. During lunch Ed was flipping around in a book. His partner, who was still tired as could be, looked at him a little blearily.

"What's that you're reading?"

"A charms book, I'm looking for a cushioning spell." Ed answered swallowing and shoving another five spoonfuls of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"Look! The brute doesn't even know not to talk with a full mouth." Pansy sneered and Crabbe and Goyle laughed on cue behind her, forgetting that they themselves had food in their mouth. So they ended up splattering most of it onto the table.

Ed looked up, but then looked back down at the book and continued flipping. "Go take your piggies for a stroll in the mud, if you have enough time to insult me." Ed shot back at her, he wasn't going to act like he felt insulted, it would only please her. She narrowed her eyes at him but didn't say anything else.

Evening approached rapidly and they knew it would be impossible to track the three of them everywhere, especially in class, because they only had potions together. Nevertheless, every single chance they got might turn out to be invaluable. When they saw the three Gryffindors leave the table they waited a bit before they got up and left for their common room as well. They arrived in their eavesdropping chamber before the Gryffindors, mostly because they had to walk up seven floors worth of staircases, not to mention waiting for the turning ones, and the Slytherins only had to walk down two sets of stairs.

They listened for any sounds and when they heard none, Ed took out his wand and said: "Spongify!" The floor and walls suddenly felt really soft. Just in time too, because they could now hear footsteps above them.

"Hermione, why can't we trust Ed?" Harry asked, sounding frustrated.

"Because he's a Slytherin and don't tell me you haven't noticed the way he's glowering at me all the time!" Ron practically shouted. The way they were arguing, it seemed likely that they were the only ones in the common room.

"Ron, he's just mad because you punched Malfoy's face for no reason during the Quidditch match, he didn't even insult you that day!" Hermione argued back.

"But he's done it enough times to deserve it!"

"But that's not the reason why we can't wholeheartedly trust Ed!"

"Then what is?" Harry interrupted the two.

"Harry, we've been over this a few times already. He's a Slytherin, and Snape's his head of house. What if he's just being friendly with us to get information for Snape? You know how Slytherins are." Hermione sounded like she just wanted him to believe her and get over it.

"No! He wouldn't do that. I went to school with him for a year. Ed wouldn't do something like that."

"Well, I don't think he was serious when he told us Snape wouldn't answer his questions anymore. He sounded more like it was getting boring for him."

"Not to mention what a big coincidence it was to see him at the front of the castle, like he was waiting for us. Usually the only place you see him in is the library and the great hall." Ron said.

"He might have been going out to get some fresh air, or something!" Harry shouted.

Ed and Draco turned to look at each other.

"Harry, we know that he's nice, but we just can't be too sure. I know we only thought of this really late and it might already be too late, but at least Snape doesn't know how to get past Fluffy yet, because we haven't found it out yet, either."

"But you trusted him before!"

"At that point of time I hadn't thought things out yet." She retorted

"But I still think it wasn't nice to lie to him. I mean, Malfoy must have already told him... He probably already thinks we're liars or something." Harry's voice held guilt in it.

"Either way we can't let him know anymore than he already does." Hermione said sternly. "We just can't trust him-"

"Just because he's a Slytherin!?!"

"Harry look... People get sorted into Slytherin for a reason. I know a lot of them are just there because of blood prejudice and pedigree. But Ed hasn't insulted us openly and I doubt he'd hold back if he really was prejudiced. He didn't know Snape before this school year, because like you said, he went to school with you. So Snape couldn't have influenced him since the beginning. His real parents are dead and we don't know about his adoptive ones, so we can't really talk about pedigree. So that leaves us with the last Slytherin trait, cunningness. He definitely has the brains to be really cunning and if you haven't noticed, he's only been hanging out with us so much after we told him about the stone. He might have struck a deal with Snape or something."

"You're just jealous because he always gets better marks than you for homework!"

Hemoine's mouth dropped open in horror. "That's not true Harry! He gets better marks than me, but that doesn't mean I'm jealous you know! He studies a lot you know! Like Ron said, he's always in the library. I have to tell you he spends more time reading than I have lately and he doesn't have to read over your homework all the time."

"It's not like you do it all the time." Ron cut in, he sounded offended.

"That's not the point, Ron!"

"Then what is the point!?" Harry nearly shouted again.

"The point, Harry, is: I'm not jealous and we shouldn't trust him unless we're a hundred percent sure he's on our side, which we are not." Hermione stated firmly, but then added more sympathetically: "I know, we already told him a lot, Harry. I also know that he helped us search library books, and it did help a lot. But we don't have to get the whole school involved in this just because they're nice or friendly. _We _aren't even supposed to know about it."

"He didn't find anything while helping us though..." Ron muttered.

"But we didn't have to lie to him right?" Harry asked, ignoring Ron's statement.

"Well, yes, but if we had kept letting him follow us all around, then we might have never found a good moment to start to keep information to ourselves again."

"Can you stop shouting now? The Slytherins in the dungeons are going to hear us..." Ron said. He sounding quite annoyed with this subject.

There was a long silence.

"I'm sorry for shouting earlier... I just think you should trust him a little more." Harry said.

Slowly voices could be heard, and then a door, presumably the portrait, could be heard opening and the voices became louder. Ed and Draco exited their little chamber, to return to their room. Just when Draco was out Crabbe and Goyle came wadding into the room, carrying a bunch of desserts as usual.

_'That was a close one...'_ both of them thought.

Crabbe blinked at them. "Where did you come from? You weren't here a moment ago."

Ed raised one eyebrow. "You sure? We've been here since after dinner. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Uhh.... Oh yeah! Yeah! You were here before, I just uhhh.... Forgot."

_'What an obvious lie, oh well.'_

"Where are you two going?" Draco asked when he saw them leaving.

"Err... to hang with Pansy. She says you're almost as bad as a blood traitor." They left leaving the blond gaping.

"Whaaaaat? She's spreading rumors about me being a blood traitor? No way... If my dad hears about this, I'll be dead..."

"Hears about what? You hanging out with me? Relax, I'm not muggle-born and there's no way to prove I wasn't a pure-blood. And your dad's not going to complain about you helping Voldemort." He gave the other a reassuring grin and he calmed down.

"We need to do something against them seeing us coming in and out..." Ed continued.

"Hmm... how about only going before they come and only coming back after they're sleeping?" Draco suggested.

"Agreed, but we can't sit in there for that long and do nothing right?"

"We could bring books to read, or do homework or something."

"You seem to be having a lot of good ideas lately." Ed remarked.

"I always have good ideas." A smirk formed on his pale face.

They picked up some homework and walked through the wall again. It was a good thing they went back, because Harry, Ron and Hermione were still in the common room. Actually, Ron went to help Hagrid with the dragon. A few days went by without them gleaming any useful information. Crabbe and Goyle didn't suspect anything as they spent more and more time with Pansy and another two Slytherin girls. Then on Wednesday night, finally something worth their time was heard. It was just after Harry and Hermione returned.

"I hope Ron'll be okay..." Harry said.

"Relax, Harry. It's not the first time he's going."

"But when I went there yesterday, Norbert was really huge!"

"Yes, I agree. If Ron's brother doesn't reply soon, I don't know if we'll be able to send Norbert to Romania..."

"Charlie's reply should arrive soon. A few days should be enough for Hedwig to get to Romania and back right?" Harry asked.

"Well... I sure hope so..." Hermione replied.

As always, the other noisy Gyffindors arrived and it was a cacophony of noisy Gryffindors' shouting around.

"Man... How can they even stand all that noise...?" Ed muttered picking up a quill and starting to write his potions essay. Draco shrugged and started reading his transfiguration textbook. They sat there quietly doing homework and listening to the lions roaring above them. Really slowly, the voices subsided, only the scratching of quill on paper could be heard from above. By this time both had finished their homework for the entire week despite the distracting noises. Now they were reading. Writing would have a lot of quill-scratching-on-paper noises, which the Gryffindors would hear, because as easily as they could hear what was happening in the common room, those in the common room could hear them, if they were listening hard enough and if they were quiet. As was the situation now. The bell of Hogwarts struck midnight.

"It bit me!!!" Came Ron's voice. "I tell you that thing's the worst animal I've ever seen! I probably won't be able to hold a quill for a week! Hagrid keeps talking about it as if it was a fluffy bunny or something! When it bit me he started scolding me for scaring his 'cute little Norbert' and then when I left he started singing it a lullaby! How ridiculous is that!?"

"Stop being so loud, Ron! Other people are trying to sleep!" Hermione scolded. Just then there was some tapping noises.

"It's Hedwig!" Harry called. "She'll have Charlie's answer!"

Some noises could be heard, most likely the three of them sitting closer to read whatever Hedwig brought. After some time Harry suddenly said: "We've got the invisibility cloak. It shouldn't be too difficult; if I'm not wrong the cloak should be able to cover two of us and Norbert."

"Alright, finally, we're getting rid of it!" Ron cheered. This confirmed Draco's initial suspicion of them trying to get rid of the dragon.

Some footsteps could be heard and then "Good night!"

Ed and Draco figured it should be late enough to return now. A little later, they were lying in bed.

"Hey Draco... Aren't Norwegian Ridgebacks venomous?"

"Huh, really? So Weasley's in trouble?"

"I'm not sure, most likely the venom won't have developed very far yet, Norbert or whatever is still a baby..."

"You're right... Want to see if we can find anything out by visiting Ron tomorrow? He's sure to go to the hospital wing at some point."

"That might work... But I don't know how much further I should push their trust..."

"It's fine, I'll go on my own."

"If you say so."

* * *

Next day after classes were over, Ed was sitting in the library reading a book. He bolted up when someone poked him on the back.

"Hahahaha, you sure get stuck real deep in books, Ed." The boy with pale blond hair whispered. Ed groaned; He didn't appreciate people disturbing him like that. He noticed a book in the other's hand and asked what it was. "It's the Weasley's book. I had to give madam Pomfrey a reason why I was there, she wouldn't let me get close to him otherwise. So I told her I needed to borrow one of his books. I took it out of his bag that was sitting beside his bed. I tried insulting him a bit, so it wouldn't seem so weird that I was there, but I couldn't dig up anything about when they were removing it from school." He answered and placed the book on the table.

Ed noticed a gap between the pages, and flipped the book open to that page. Inside it laid a white envelope. Opening other people's letters wasn't really a thing he usually did, but he had a feeling this one would answer some of their questions. He opened it and read the letter, Draco read it over his shoulder and both of them had to smirk at each other. The letter said:

Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter. I'd be glad to take the Norwegian  
Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here.  
I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week.  
Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.  
Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday?  
They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.  
Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love,  
Charlie

"So the tallest tower on Saturday? I wonder if teachers patrol that part of the castle..." Ed mumbled.

"They patrol all over the place. If I'm not wrong, they patrol the areas closest to their dorms. And Filch and the other teachers take turns patrolling all over the place, I think. What's the plan?"

"One of us has to walk around and get caught, so that whoever is watching that place gets lured away. And in case the teacher comes back, the other one'll have to get caught as well... Harry's got an invisibility cloak, so no one should be able to see them. But we can't ignore the fact that carrying a dragon around, in almost all forms I can think of, will result in at least some noise. So the question is who's going first?" Ed explained once they had returned to their room.

"How about a game of wizards' chess? The loser gets the fun of being caught wandering around at night." Ed agreed and took out his chess set that he got from Draco.

The game was one-sided and after five minutes the game had ended. Malfoy's mouth dropped open.

"Man... I thought I was good at chess and that you'd surely lose!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Ed smirked.

Eleven o'clock on Saturday couldn't have come faster. They left the common room making sure they wouldn't get caught too early. Ed hid in an abandoned looking classroom and Draco started walking around the entrance to the tallest tower at around 11.30. Ed was pretty glad they had taken all measures of precaution, because Draco was soon caught by McGonagall at around 11.45, Harry and Hermione should be around by now.

The professor shouted: "Detention! And twenty points from Slytherin! What were you thinking?! Wandering around in the middle of the night-"

"No, I wasn't! I swear I was sleepwalking!"

"Rubbish! I know you well enough by now to know that you weren't sleepwalking! Come on! I shall see your head of house about you, Malfoy!" With that she pulled him away by his ear. Ed watched the scene from a hole in the door of the classroom he was hiding in, he felt really relieved that he didn't lose that chess match. McGonagall's and Draco's footsteps faded, but another two sets could be heard now. They seem to be clunking up the spiral staircase to the tower.

_'They should be okay now...'_ Ed thought.

As long as they didn't get caught with the dragon, their plan would be a success. He got up and left for his bed as quietly as possible.


	14. Lies?

A/N Thanks again for reviews and a happy new year to everyone!

* * *

The next day, Ed and Draco were up early discussing the events of the previous night in whispers.

"I got detention from McGonagall and had to listen to her go on and on about how I should know better than to sneak around at night. And she dragged me by the ear!" Draco wasn't sulking but he wasn't exactly happy either.

"It's just one detention, if you don't tell anyone, then nobody will know anyway. Besides it's not like twenty house points are a lot and we're still in first place. Compared to how many points you already earned for us it's really little you know..." Ed pointed out between a few pushups.

Draco thought a bit and then nodded slowly. "I guess you're right, what happened after McGonagall dragged me away?"

"Nothing much, the two of them waited quite a bit before they decided to move again. Actually, they waited so long I almost thought McGonagall was going to come back any moment. After they went up, I figured, nothing could go wrong and headed back."

Crabbe and Goyle started to stir, so they changed up and made their way down to the great hall. Before they reached it, they stopped in front of the hourglasses with the house points. The one that caught their eye wasn't the green one, it was the red one. The number that floated above it had dropped 150 from yesterday to today. The only thing that could have provoked this was Harry and Hermione being caught.

"Luckily, I didn't lose us that many." Draco said smirking at Ed, who merely shrugged as they went to sit down in the great hall.

Judging by the various rumors that spread throughout the next few days, Harry and Hermione as well as one other, Neville, had been caught that night, each losing fifty points. But no rumors about a dragon were heard, which calmed the two Slytherins down immensely. Draco's own loss of twenty points was shoved aside and none of the Slytherins were bothered by it, just as Ed had predicted. They were in the lead with not a lot of time for anyone to catch up to them. Studying, once more, took up all their time as exams were nearly at their door. The detention was forgotten until one morning, when an owl swooped down and released its droppings where Ed's plate was and a note for Draco on his plate. Ed was still shouting profanities at the owl, when Draco pulled him out of the great hall.

"I've got detention with the Gryffindors, ugh..." He said smacking his hand in his face, when Ed was calm enough to listen.

"Oh... When is it?"

"It's tonight at eleven o'clock with Mr. Filch." He said.

"At least you're not alone with Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris." Ed smirked at him and Draco had to smirk back.

"You owe me one for taking the detention though."

"Yeah sure, whatever."

* * *

That night, Ed stayed up late in the common room, studying some history of magic, because he already read the material for the other subjects what seemed to him like a billion times already. Just as he read a passage for the millionth time, Draco came bursting into to the room wide-eyed and shaking. Ed dropped his book and ran over to the shivering blond.

"Hey! Get a grip! What happened?" The boy was stuttering something, but it was impossible to decipher what he was saying. "Hold your horses! Calm down! I can't understand anything you're saying!"

Draco shook from fear on all fours. Ed knelt down beside him and put his hand on the other's shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Slowly the Malfoy's body stopped shaking and they walked over to one of the couches.

"What happened?" Ed asked again.

Draco looked down at his hands and took a few breaths before replying. "We were supposed to go into the forbidden forest for detention, to look for a hurt unicorn. Potter and me eventually ended up in a group and we found the unicorn. It was dead." He paused for a while, his hands moved to his face. "There was this strange thing, it moved to the unicorn and drank its blood... The sight was so horrible, I don't know why. It made me feel so scared, then I screamed and I ran, leaving Potter behind..." His hands started rubbing his face.

Ed put his own hand to his chin and his eyebrows furrowed. "Hmm... Unicorn blood... It will save someone even if that person is on the verge of death, but there's some kind of curse thing... Could it have been Quirell?" He asked aloud, more to himself than anyone else. The now calmer boy looked up at Ed.

"It might have been. Do you think..." A short pause. "Do you think he would hurt Potter?"

"I think Voldemort would have stopped him, if he tried. But we can't be sure. We can't do anything about it either, so we'll just have to wait and see." Ed replied.

It was the logical answer, but deep down he hated waiting too. But it was true; they couldn't do anything in the moment.

So they went back to their room. Ed, who was deep in thought, pulled off his robes a little too violently and some white colored thing fell onto the floor. He didn't see it until he pulled on his Pajamas. He blinked down at it, wondering what it could be when it suddenly hit him. It was that note Quirell had passed to him! Because of all the chaos concerning the dragon, he completely forgot about it. He scooped it up and opened it, pulling out a sheet of paper, yes paper, not parchment, and a ball point-pen from his trunk.

"What's that?"

"A note Quirell left for me..." Ed answered although he didn't sound like he was paying much attention, to his surroundings.

Draco sighed and figured the blond would tell him eventually and went to bed. Ed sat up for a long while decoding it. It was a very messed-up beginner's kind of code. Those could sometimes be more difficult than ones made by professionals, because oftentimes everything was jumbled up. Double-checking one last time he turned to the decoded piece of paper and read it.

'I forgot to tell you the time when you knocked Quirell out, but a diary of mine is in a certain Lucius Malfoy's possession. A piece of my soul from my school time is trapped in there. During my school time, I had aspired to become a dark wizard and rid the world of muggle-borns. I fear Lucius might want to unleash my younger, foolish self to achieve his own goals. You have to destroy the me in the diary.' Is what the note said.

_'So_ _I have to watch out for an evil diary? Great.... At least with alchemy, weird and surprising things like this can't happen...'_ He took out his wand and muttered: "Evanesco."

The piece of paper vanished and Ed fell asleep.

* * *

The next day though, Harry, Hermione and Neville looked normal, albeit a little tired. Nothing more extraordinary happened before their exams. The exams themselves were a piece of cake, nothing like the state alchemist qualification exam. Practicals weren't very difficult either, they had to do various things like: charming a pineapple, brewing a potion, transfiguring a rat (Ed transfigured a small gray pebble). Still, a general state of relief washed over the school after the last exam. Ed received a note the morning before that last exam. His owl was the one that dropped it. He read it over really quickly, folded it and then placed it in a pocket. They were going to destroy the stone tonight. But the day was still long, and the weather was beautiful. The summer sun made the whole place nice and warm. Ed sat under a tree by the lake, watching the Gryffindor first year trio at another tree over the rim of his book. Draco was out there as well, taking a nap. He watched as Harry rubbed his forehead angrily and exchanged a few words with Ron and Hermione. Suddenly he jumped up walking towards Hagrid's hut with Ron and Hermione chasing after him.

"You think they figured out what happened between Hagrid and the stranger in the bar?"

"Probably..." Draco said as he opened one eye to peer at Ed.

"Ed, you don't think they found out that it's tonight, do you?"

"I don't know, it's not exactly a secret Dumbumble's going away and won't be back 'till tomorrow and they aren't that stupid... I just wonder how we should convince Harry that he's on the wrong side..."

"That can wait, right?"

"Hmm... I guess..."

Night approached all too soon and Ed sneaked up to the door in the third floor corridor, where Quirell was supposed to wait for him. As it happened, Quirell arrived there roughly the same time as he did and only acknowledged him with a small nod. Some mischievousness sparked up in Ed and he attempted to read Quirell's mind for a split second. What he found there was... Jealousy and spite? So the man was jealous that Voldemort trusted him and hated him because of it? Ed didn't know why someone would be jealous of that man's trust but, honestly, he didn't really care much.

Quirell pulled his wand out and muttered: "Alohamora."

The door opened up to the growls of the huge beast. Quirell flicked his wand again and a harp appeared. Another flick and it started playing. The huge heads blinked their mad eyes and after swaying here and there it lay its heads onto the ground and fell asleep. Quirell turned to Ed with a small smile of satisfaction on his face, as if trying to prove that he was so much more worthy of a certain someone's attention than the short golden haired boy in front of him. Ed just displayed a mock show of respect and Quirell's smile turned into a scowl. They walked towards the trap door at one of Fluffy's heads and lifted it up.

"After you." Ed said doing a fake half bow.

Quirell scowled again but jumped down the hole. Ed climbed into the hole using his legs to stem himself, so he wouldn't fall down immediately. He grabbed the plank that had covered the hole and flipped it back over the hole before letting himself fall down. When he hit the floor Quirell had just moved out of the way. He noticed the thick vines, below him. The vines moved to wrap themselves around both Quirell and Ed, and then proceed to swing them around. Quirell who hadn't noticed the plant before, dropped his wand when the plant whipped him into the air. Deciding to show off a bit Ed clapped his hands and placed them firmly on the plant. In a matter of seconds the plant turned to ash dropping both of them on the floor. Ed landed in a crouch with one hand on the floor for balance and Quirell flat on his back.

"What did you do?" Quirell demanded after getting up and picking up his wand.

Ed shrugged saying "magic", earning him glare from his defence against the dark arts teacher.

They walked through a passageway on the other side of the chamber. The next room had a high ceiling and millions of little bird things were zooming around up there. On a second glance Ed noticed they looked like keys.

Quirell strode to the other side confidently and swished his wand at the door saying "Alohamora" again. This time though the door refused to budge. "Looks like we have to get the right key. Would you mind fetching it? It should look-"

"Sure." Ed said cutting him off.

He clapped his hands together again and placed them just beside the door. The wall reformed itself and made a tunnel, which led into the next room.

"What in the world are you doing? That can't be magic! There are no spells that just let you vanish parts of walls and turn plants to ash! And you're not even using a wand!" Quirell exclaimed.

Ed just shrugged again, it's not like he himself actually believed it was magic; it was just the best and easiest thing to say. After all, you shouldn't lay down all your cards so early in the game. "It's magic, alright? Can't believe it then don't." He walked pass the furious man into his carefully constructed hallway. Just for challenging himself, he had transmuted lots of details, like skulls looking at them creepily. He admired them with a satisfied expression on his face. Quirell strode pass him again muttering something about the blond having bad taste and Ed narrowed his eyes at him muttering: "You're just old-fashioned..."

It was a shame he had to close back the hallway in the wall, it did look cool. After closing it he turned around and surveyed the room before him. A giant chessboard with towering chess pieces spread out on the floor. The faceless pieces gave off an eerie feeling.

"So we have to play chess?" Ed asked aloud, to no one in particular, but one of the black bishops, which were on their side of the board nodded.

Quirell walked forward and replaced one of the black chessmen. "I'll let you direct this game, runt."

_'Well, he certainly would give anything, even his pride for his life eh?'_ Ed thought, he chose to ignore the comment on his height, for a while.

Ed got into position as well. The white team didn't pose much of a challenge and was quickly defeated. The defeated chessmen moved aside and bowed their heads as the king threw his crown at Quirell's feet, who jumped back, fearing the stone crown would squash him. They walked up through the next passageway, behind them the sound of chessmen realigning themselves for another game could be heard. They opened a door and behind it stood another one of those big fat ugly troll things. Ed wanted to transmute the floor into a stone fist to give the ugly thing a good whack on the head, but Quirell stretched out his arm.

"This is my specialty, I doubt a boy like you could handle this troll. Leave it to me, pipsqueak."

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO TINY THAT AN ANT IS A GIANT IN COMPARISON!?!?!" Ed screamed into Quirell's ear.

Ed muttered obscenities under his breath while watching Quirell avoid a hit from the troll awkwardly. He wanted to cast a spell, but the troll decided to swing his arm for another hit. Quirell had to stop his spell and move to the side quickly to avoid being hit. This exchange continued until Ed calmed down from his ranting. He ran forward knocking Quirell to the side, who then lost his balance and fell on his bottom and dropped his wand. Ed ignored him and kicked the club out of the troll's hand. The club flew in a high arch away from the troll as it stumbled back. Ed, having pushed himself off the troll's arm, landed on his feet sliding back. He quickly pulled out his wand, but a flash of red light shot past him and hit the troll square in the forehead. He turned around to see Quirell had stood up and was still panting from previously running all around the troll.

"There! You see! I beat it!" He exclaimed, breathing heavily from the work, but giving a triumphant smile nonetheless.

"Uhuh, sure." Ed said and walked past him, not acknowledging his success at all.

Quirell scowled yet again, but followed Ed towards their goal.

The next room had a table with several glass vials on it. As they stepped away from the door, purple flames shot up behind them and black ones shot up at the door they needed to cross. Quirell approached the table picking up a piece of parchment that lay on it. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed a blue flash, so he spun around to face his partner who was motioning to a hallway beside him that wasn't there before.

"You coming or what?" Ed called to the man with a turban.

He strutted past Ed without giving him another look, he wasn't very pleased. Once they reached the next room, Ed closed up his makeshift tunnel. They appeared to be in the final room. Only the original entranceway, stood behind them, the black fire that had been burning evilly dissipated slowly. The only thing that stood in this room, other than tall stone pillars, was a very familiar looking mirror. Quirell looked into the mirror.

"I don't understand... Is the stone in here?"

His hand trailed along the dusty glass of the mirror. The elegant item seemed to be mocking them. Ed stood a few steps behind Quirell. He gazed at it.

_'It shows people what they want from the bottom of their hearts. This is supposedly Dumbumble's defensive mechanism, right? Could he have twisted the spell on the mirror?'_

The magical fire springing up behind him and two voices broke his chain of thought.

"This must be Snape's trap, what do we do?" It was Harry.

"Look!" And that was Hermione.

_'Oh crap! If Harry sees me, he's not going to have an ounce of trust left in me.'_

"Go and hide behind one of those pillars and make sure he doesn't see you!" A raspy voice called out, softly enough so it could not be heard beyond the fire. "Quirell, the boy could be used to extract the stone from the mirror."

Hiding and taking orders was really not his thing, so he hesitated just a moment before obeying. From his position he could see what was happening in the front of the room, although he couldn't really be seen. Quirell was facing the mirror again, when Harry stormed in through the black fire. Momentarily, he stopped in shock.

"You!?" The teen gasped.

"Yes, me. I knew you were coming." Quirell stated calmly, turning around.

"But, I thought Snape-"

"Ahh, yes, Severus... He certainly seems like the type, doesn't he?" Quirell laughed evilly at Harry.

"Next to him, no one would suspect p-p-poor st-st-stuttering Q-Quirell!"

"But Snape tried to kill me!"

"Hahahaha! No stupid boy! That was me! Your potions professor was trying to save you!"

The boy frowned. "He was trying to save me?"

"Of course, that's why he wanted to referee your next match." Quirell waved his wand at the still perplexed boy making ropes spring around him, binding his arms to his sides. Quirell himself, held one end of the rope in his hand. He pulled it so Harry stumbled closer towards him, dropping his wand on the floor in the process. "Do you know what this mirror is boy?" He asked, pausing to let the boy think. "It shows you your greatest desire. But I'm sure you know why I'm here. Look into the mirror and tell me what you see!" The last part was shouted into Harry's ear.

Harry positioned himself in front of the mirror slowly. His expression changed from surprise to excitement to fear. Ed watched as one of his hands moved to his pockets to feel it.

"What do you see, Potter!?" Quirell shouted again.

The hesitation before his answer made it sound as if he were lying. "I see myself... Shaking hands with Dumbledore... I-I've won the house cup for Gryffindor..." He trailed off, his voice was shaky and betrayed his fear.

Quirell's face contorted in rage and impatience when he shouted "Get out of the way!"

Harry started walking backwards, when a raspy voice breathed out the words: "He lies... He lies!" rather loudly.

Harry froze to his spot. "Tell me the truth Potter!!" Quirell demanded, though the voice cut him off.

"Let me speak to him... face-to-face." Quirell tried to argue, but gave in. He unwrapped his turban slowly and turned around, so his actual face was looking in Ed's direction. "Harry Potter... Do you see what I have become? This is all thanks to Dumbledore. Now, give me that stone in your pocket." He breathed out everything slowly, taking deep breaths between sentences. Harry took a few steps back. "Don't be a fool boy. Give me the stone and you shall be spared a painful death... If you don't, you'll end up like your parents... They died, frightened..."

"LIAR!!!" Harry shouted. Quirell started walking towards Harry.

"Very touching... I value bravery... Your father died first... He died courageously, trying to protect you and your mother... She in turn was trying to protect you... Hand me the stone, or else her sacrifice would have been in vain..." As Voldemort finished his statement, Ed had to face palm himself. Luckily enough, the smack was not very audible.

_'What the hell... He's making it seem like he's the bad guy! Should I intervene? But... after all that Harry's heard already, that might just make things worse... Damn I gotta give that stupid idiot a dressing down...'_

"NEVER!!!" Harry shouted and sprinted for the exit.

"SEIZE HIM!!" Voldemort shouted in return. Quirell managed to grab his hand, but it started burning and blistering. Quirell somehow managed to jump onto Harry, knocking him over in the process.

"Ahhh! My hands!!! Master I cannot hold him!" Quirell screamed, releasing Harry to stare at his blistered hands.

As Quirell moved to do god-knows-what, Harry had other plans. He lunged forward, grabbing Quirell's face. The man howled in agony, but Harry was clearly in a lot of pain as well.

"Harry!" Ed yelled jumping out from behind and running towards the boy. Harry's eyes opened wide, but then he fainted likely because the pain paired up with the shock of seeing Ed was too much for him. Quirell pulled away and grabbed his face, still screaming. Ed ignored Quirell for the moment and checked Harry's pulse. Confirming that the boy wouldn't die, he quickly pulled the stone out of Harry's pocket and destroyed it. Ed noticed Quirell's screaming had faded away and he turned around to see nothing but dust and the man's clothes lying on the floor. He sighed and pulled Harry over his shoulder attempting to get out of the place, but Dumbledore arrived.

"Harry!" He called.

"We need to get him to the hospital wing, sir." Ed stated calmly.

Dumbledore looked at him a bit oddly, like he didn't notice he was there until he spoke. Ed quickly remembered to put up his Occlumency shields, he was wary of the man. Dumbledore in return stared down at him. After what seemed like minutes, Dumbledore looked at Quirell's remains, but didn't say anything. After a few more moments of suspense, he finally said: "Yes, yes... You're right..." He pulled out his wand and levitated Harry. "What happened to the stone, lad?"

"It was destroyed, sir." Ed said calmly. Dumbledore looked incredulous, but again, said nothing.

They walked back out of that place in silence. Ed wanted to sigh in relief; his shields were strong enough, to hide a lot of the actual happenings.

* * *

In the next two days Ed visited Harry, as much as he could. When he met Hermione and Ron there, they never said anything to him. More like, ignored him and walked out as soon as he came. Dumbledore was there frequently as well. On the third day, Dumbledore had his head bent over Harry's face, he looked like he was about to kiss him.

"Good afternoon, Harry." He suddenly said.

Ed chose to listen from outside, he didn't feel like letting Dumbledore see him.

"Sir! The stone! It was Quirell! He's got the stone! Quick-"

"Calm yourself, dear boy. I'm afraid you're a little behind the times. Just relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out." He interrupted Harry's rant. "Tokens from your admirers. What happened down in the dungeons between you and professor Quirell is a secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows."

"How long have I been in here?"

"Three days. Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round. They have been extremely worried."

"But sir, the stone-"

"Ah, I see you are not to be distracted. You friend, Mr. Elric, who was there with you told me that it was destroyed, apparently professor Quirell was destroyed along with it."

"Edward? Oh yeah he was there... Wait... The stone was destroyed? Then what about your friend, Nicholas Flamel?"

Dumbledore gave a very audible sigh. "Alas Harry, when I went to inform him of the destruction of his stone. I found him already dead. Ministry officials have been informed and from what I have heard yesterday, it seems he was murdered. But they are not sure when the evil deed was done, or by who."

"And his wife?"

"His wife shared the same fate..." Dumbledore trailed off, but this was news to Ed. He hadn't heard that the pair had died, even though he read the papers Draco received every day. "It seems you want to ask me a few questions, Harry. I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to. In which case of course I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie."

For a while it was quiet and then Harry asked: "Sir, why would Voldemort want to kill me?"

"Ah, I am afraid I can't answer that, Harry."

Harry paused again, as if he wanted to argue, but instead posed his next question. "Why couldn't Quirell touch me?"

"I believe it is because when your mother died, you had a spell casted upon you. It's an ancient and powerful spell. I am not sure what it does, but I believe it stops Voldemort from touching you. Therefore, Quirell, who shared his body with Voldemort, could not touch you without falling into agony."

Yet again another pause. "What about the invisibility cloak? Do you know who sent it to me?"

Pause.

"That I do not know Harry. I was wondering where it went. After your parents' death I helped move their belongings into your vault, but I did not find that particular item at your parents' home..."

"What about Snape? Quirell said Snape-"

"Professor Snape, Harry. Yes, he hated your father. But your father did something to him he could never forgive."

"What?"

"He saved his life. Perhaps that is the reason professor Snape has worked so hard this year to keep you safe, so he could go back to hating your father in peace."

Another pause, Harry seemed to be mulling over the answer trying to make sense of it. After a long while he asked his final question. "One last thing, sir. How did I get the stone out of the mirror?"

"Ah! I am glad you asked me this. It was one of my more brilliant ideas. I spelled the mirror to only give the stone to someone who was trying to keep the stone safe." There was a small hint of bitterness in his voice. "Ah, enough of this talk now. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans! I was unfortunate enough to have chanced upon a vomit-flavored one in my youth. I'm afraid I haven't liked them very much since then. But I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee coloured one." A small pause. "Alas! Ear wax!"

Ed turned and walked away when he heard Hermione and Ron come round the corner to visit Harry.

* * *

"Harry!" Hermione called, although she was mindful to keep quiet. Madam Pomfrey hadn't wanted to let them in, but she finally gave in.

"We were so worried about you!" Ron said. They walked over to sit down beside his bed. "So, what really happened? The whole school's talking about it."

Harry had to smile at that, but he told them the whole story in all its glory. Until he came to the part with Ed. "And then Ed appeared-"

"Ed? I knew it! Something fishy's going on! Why in the world would he be down there? He didn't go down there with us-" Hermione was about to go on a rant when Harry noticed something.

"Wait... If I remember correctly, he came from the back of the room. Why would he be there?"

"Maybe he was working for Quirell..." Ron added.

"See, Harry! I told you there was something fishy about him-" Hermione started, Ron finished: "You can't ever trust Slytherins..."

Harry was really put out, but he had to admit, there really wasn't any reason for Ed to have been down there. "Umm... you guys... I'm really sorry about shouting at you back in the common room. I guess you're right. I just couldn't believe it..."

"It's alright, Harry. We can understand; it's not easy being betrayed." After that they moved on to some lighter conversation and laughed heartily until madam Pomfrey chased them out, saying Harry needed rest.

* * *

The end of year feast was a nice change to all the strange events that had been going on in Ed's, now probably extended, life. First landing in this strange world, next randomly meeting a supposed savior of the wizarding world, then getting adopted by his brother-look-alike and his mother-look-alike, then finding out his real father couldn't get back and was helping a supposedly evil wizard, then one night he found said wizard nearly _begging_ him for help. And last but not least getting Draco, his probably only friend now, involved in this whole mess and helping the 'Dark Lord' destroy a stone he had, possibly, been seeking for a third of his life. The feast was, at least until now a somewhat normal feast, well as normal as feasts could get. Lots of food like every other Hogwarts feast. The halls were decorated in green and silver with Slytherin's emblem to top it all off. At this very moment Dumbledore was holding a speech about how it had been an exciting year. While doing so Ed noticed he kept glancing towards him and one or two times he felt something poking at his head. It wasn't always obvious someone was boring into your mind.

_'Damn him... Can't even leave me alone during a feast. Probably thinks I'm fishy...'_

After he thought those words, said damned person went to the house cup awarding. "The points stand thus: In fourth place Gryffindor with 312 points; in third Hufflepuff with 352; in second Ravenclaw with 426 and finally in first place Slytherin with 1298." The headmaster stopped his speech for a while to let the Slytherins make an amount of noise no one would think possible of the, normally, refined house.

Ed slammed his hands to his ears, trying fruitlessly to block out the offending noise.

When it quieted down ever so slightly the old coot resumed his rambling. "Yes, yes, well done Slytherin... However! Recent events must be taken into account!" Slytherins quieted down fully, making the whole hall once again silent. "Ahem." Dumbledore did a fake clear-throat-thing to get attention, which he of course didn't have, since the whole hall was silent and everyone was staring at him. "I have a few last minutes points to dish out. Let me see... Ah, yes... To Mr. Ronald Weasley-" dramatic pause. "For the best-played chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award 276 points!" Gryffindor house cheered, like mad; suddenly they were in second place.

Ed wanted to scream at the sore loser for awarding so many points for a stupid chess game. He would bet his owl he could have played better any day, anywhere. _'The stupid old coot is probably trying to make Gryffindor win.'_ Some Slytherins stood up in outrage and voiced his thoughts. Although the other two houses should have protested as well, they didn't. It seemed they were supporting Dumbly and Gryffindor in this one, most likely just wanting to see Slytherin's seven year record of earning the house cup broken. Eventually the cheering Gryffindors sat down again and quietly anticipated the earning of more points for their benefit.

"Ahem!" Dumbledore cleared his throat for effect again. "Second! To Miss Hermione Granger, for the cool use of knowledge in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor 276 points!" Another round of wild cheering broke out at the Gryffindor table. This one was as loud, but the voices sounded a bit hoarse.

_'I suppose it's alright to award points for logic, but this is going a little overboard, doesn't anyone agree with me? Unless that weird old codger is implying that usually wizards should have no sense of logic.' _Ed scowled at Dumbledore._ 'Oh look! He's gazing at me...'_ No sooner had that been thought and barriers had been established, he felt a light poking again. Damn... was the man trying to catch him off guard? Looks like second year isn't going to be so fun...

Dumbledore must have noticed that he had waited long enough as the cheering from Gryffindor table subsided again. They were now at 864 points. "Third! To Mr. Harry Potter!" The room went quieter if possible and Ed felt another, slightly stronger prodding at his mind. The man was staring at him again, but then continued on. "For pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house 351 points!" Another set of screams erupted from Gryffindor's table, but this time it sounded almost a little pathetic, nearly everyone was tired of screaming or had a hoarse voice by now. They still hadn't won though, so after a noticeably shorter round of screams, all eyes wandered back to the headmaster, who unbeknownst to them was still trying to poke in Ed's head.

When he felt it stop he found it safe to think: _'Luckily I started practicing when I did.'_ It ticked him off that the headmaster would look at the minds of unsuspecting students.

"There are all kinds of bravery!" insert dramatic pause. "It takes a lot of courage to stand up to ones enemies, but also a great deal to stand up to ones friends! Therefore, I award Mr. Neville Longbottom 81 points for Gryffindor!" Some more cheers broke out, but it only lasted like 5 seconds.

Ed blinked a few times. A small grin broke out on his face. He decided he was up to trying something out, he just hoped it would go well. Looking back up to the headmaster, as everyone else did, he entered his mind, cautiously. He figured the coot would be too distracted to notice him. _'Hahaha! Take that Slytherin! My house wins again! Wait... Why aren't they cheering like they're supposed to? Hmm... 312 plus 276, plus 276, plus 351, plus 81... Oh... NO! Damn! I'm 3 points short of a win! Damnit! If it weren't for that boy distracting-'_ Ed decided now was the last chance he got to exit the man's mind inconspicuously and did just so. Only a little of his distress showed as Slytherin house began roaring again.

However, the headmaster didn't like to lose. So, he decided to try and win in at least one aspect. "Alas!" He said with a surprisingly fake sounding sadness "Slytherin House still wins! One particular individual however, should be noted for this spectacular win and the newest record for the most points earned in a year by a single house. Mr. Edward Elric, would you please come to the front to collect the cup for your house?"

Slytherins cheered, Ed gulped, close-up it would be even more difficult to block out the man. The first time had been bad enough, truthfully, Dumbledore had given up what seemed like just before the point at which Ed wouldn't have been able to take it anymore. He hoped the impatience of the crowd would work to his benefit. Ed got up and walked along the Slytherin table, where many patted his back, to the front of the room. He stopped just in front of the headmaster. Dumbledore was staring at him, and he tried not to flinch or lose his focus.

"For earning 826 of Slytherins 1298 points, I am passing this cup to you." He stated still not looking away from Ed's eyes. The man paused, and Ed felt like swearing, but didn't since it would please the man to no end, because then he could take 10 points off Slytherin and give the damnable cup to Gryffindor.

"Headmaster..." Sneered a voice, both Ed and Dumbledore looked to see who it was. It was Snape. The potions master waved his hand toward the hall, to indicate that everyone was getting impatient.

So Dumbledore handed the cup to Ed ever so slowly, of course he returned to staring at him. Ed reached out for the cup, nearly snatching it out of the old hands, and although he found it ridiculous, lifted the thing into the air and spun around. Grinning at his housemates, but for very different reasons than they assumed.

_'Yes! Thwarted him once more!'_

* * *

In the last few days before they would be returning home, quite a few people (Slytherins) came up to Ed and either patted him on the back for his good work, or asked him if he'd noticed Dumbledore might be a pedophile and asked him to be careful. Exam notes came out as well, Ed turned out to be the best followed closely by Draco, who studied together with him nearly all the time. Hermione, who placed third in their year, narrowed her eyes at him every time she saw him; it seems she was indeed jealous.

Too soon, they were suddenly back in King's Cross station, where some people told him to watch out for a pedophile during his summer break. He wanted to say bye to Harry, but the boy quickly turned and walked away. So in the end he might still have completely lost Harry's trust. Oh well, you couldn't have everything in life. Both Trisha and Alphonse were there and smiled as he walked towards them. They talked with him about various events while walking to a small alleyway and apparating him back to their home.


	15. Reunion?

A/N The last chapter really had a lot of reviews. I thank all of you for your support throughout Ed's first year at Hogwarts. I'm happy people enjoyed it and that I haven't made too many errors. I hope I can continue to update once a week. SaphiraIce has some entrance exams coming up and I might have to sit that week out. But I think I'll just try and do it myself.

And I have to say, I really did forget about October third. I hope it's not too bad if I don't go back and edit it, because I think it'll be kind of messy. But I'll write one for this year.

Okay, I'm done babbling. Enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

Summer Holidays had just started, but some plans were already made. Apparently, the Knights, including Ed, had been invited to Draco's birthday party. It seemed to be an event to which they were always invited. Naturally, they accepted. But that meant that they had to go shopping for a set of dress robes for Ed. It was to be held on the 30th June. Because his actual birthday is during the last few weeks of school, they decided to celebrate on a day where all the people invited had time and had recovered enough from the journey home to attend.

Speaking of birthdays, both of his guardians had apologized profusely for forgetting his birthday. They simply weren't used to it all yet, and work was always keeping them busy, Ed didn't mind, he wasn't used to celebrating his birthday either. Even so, the day after they arrived back home, when all of them were rested again, they celebrated Ed's birthday belatedly. A nice sized chocolate cake was baked (apparently by Trisha), on it the words 'Happy Birthday Ed!' filled up nearly the whole top of the cake. 11 candles were lit, and Ed got to blow them out and wish something, after the happy birthday song was sung.

When everyone received their slice of cake, Ed decided he needed to say it now. "Umm..." He started.

Both adults looked towards him. "Yes, dear?" Trisha asked, she looked concerned.

"Well... I realize... I, uhh, want to apologize..."

"What for?" Alphonse asked.

"Well..." Ed couldn't seem to find the right words, so he closed his eyes briefly. "I... I actually avoided you guys last summer... I don't know, I just... Didn't feel comfortable at all... Somehow..." Ed's gaze had wandered back to the slice of cake still on his plate. Only, slowly, did he lift his gaze again. He had expected angry faces, but their expressions were softened.

"It's alright. I don't think it's that strange. After all, we had just met. It must have just been a little difficult to grasp all that suddenly changed around you." Trisha started. "And it's not as if anyone could have expected you to talk to us as if you had known as for years, 'cause you didn't." Alphonse senior piped it.

A familiar smile found it's was to his lips and he started laughing. Ed joined in after a little while and Trisha also chuckled a bit. They started eating, when they finally managed to stop laughing, although there really wasn't anything funny to laugh about.

_'There, I said it... They don't hate me. I feel like a giant stone was lifted off my heart... I just hope this isn't a dream...'_ Ed thought with a smile still on his face. He scooped up a small piece of the cake and put it in his mouth. "Wow! This is good!" Ed said.

"I'm glad you like it." She smiled at him and he had to grin at her.

"So what do you want to do today, Ed?" Alphonse asked, excitedly.

"Honey, you're forgetting something." Trisha told him.

"Oh... I am? Wait let me see... Oh yeah! I'll be right back!" He stood up and dashed out of the room.

"You'll see." Trisha answered Ed's unanswered question with another smile.

Moments later Alphonse came back holding a longish wrapped bundle. "Here." He said passing it to Ed. "It's our present for you. Go on, open it." Alphonse nodded toward the present.

Ed hesitated a bit, and then slowly opened it. Inside it was a broom, a Nimbus 2000. Ed looked at it, not really sure what he should say. Sure he was amazed at flying, but to put it nicely, he was more comfortable on the ground. He wouldn't even have tried getting onto a broom if the classes weren't compulsory. Yet he didn't want to disappoint them. "Thanks!"

"Hahaha, we're glad you're happy. We weren't exactly sure what you would like, but we bought it just a few days before you arrived back home." Trisha told him.

"Want to go try it out?" Alphonse asked eagerly.

"Make sure to explain everything to him, Al. We don't want anyone to get hit by a bludger." She said chuckling at her husband, then turned to Ed. "You have to know, he's a great fan of Quidditch, but he doesn't support a particular team, just really enjoys the game."

"Alright, let's go out." Ed replied picking up his new broom and following Alphonse out. They walk to the back of the house, where a small stone shed stood. Al went in and brought out his broom and a box that rattled alarmingly.

He must have noticed how Ed was staring at the box, because he said: "Don't worry about those; we're not going to be using the ones that rattle like that. We don't really have enough people to play a game anyway. We're just going to use the Quaffle."

He bent down and opened the box. On each side of it a ball, resembling a cannonball, really, tried to get out of its restraints. Alphonse ignored those and took out the ball in the centre. He took that one under his arm. Both of them got onto their brooms and rose slowly. This broom was completely different than the old school ones. It flew smoothly and did exactly as he willed it to. It might have been because he just consumed a large amount of chocolate, but he was feeling really happy. The broom was really easy to control. Acting on impulse, he drifted off and flew a few rounds around the house.

"This broom feels really good!" He told Alphonse as he halted beside him.

He in turn laughed and said: "All warmed up now? Our lawn's only big enough for one set of hoops, but we can take turns. Alright, let's get started..."

"Don't you need another player?" Trisha's voice resounded as she flew level to them.

They agreed that Alphonse should be the first one to be the goal keeper. Ed passed the Quaffle to Trisha, who caught it elegantly. She flew close to Alphonse, who was ready to block her attempt at scoring, but she passed it back to Ed, who couldn't catch it quite as well as Trisha and thus threw it towards the goal a little too slowly. Al had turned really quickly and caught it.

"Nice try!" He called, grinning.

After getting the hang of it, they switched positions. This time with Trisha at the goal. In no way was she easier to get pass than Alphonse was. In the end the two guys couldn't score against Trisha in that round. By the end of the day though all three of them had let in a few Quaffles and scored quite a few times. They put the brooms back in the shed and went to change up.

Dinner was delicious as well. Each of them had a fish fillet. And to accompany it there were potatoes and a really good sauce. They talked and joked about various things including school stuff, work and people.

Ed started to get a little fidgety, so Alphonse asked: "What's biting you, Ed?"

The boy looked up and seemed to think about whether to say anything or not. "Umm.... Well... I... Can I like just call you Al?" He asked, a bit awkwardly.

Alphonse blinked a few times then laughed again, it would seem he did that all the time. "Sure! You didn't have to ask!"

Ed looked relieved to get the question off his mind, but then he turned to Trisha, all tensed up again. "C-Can I... Umm.. Can I... call you... Umm..." His face was turning to the red his coat used to be at an amazing speed. He averted his gaze from her face back to the table. "Can I... call you mum?" The golden haired boy asked quietly looking at the table.

Golden eyes peered at her through golden fringes. She looked shocked, surprised. "Sure!" She said giving him a smile more dazzling than the ones before it.

"What! Why not call me dad then?" Al asked in mock hurt.

Ed was thinking what he should say, when Trisha helped him. "It must be because you're so childish sometimes, that he can't think of you as a father. Maybe more like a brother." She said, covering her mouth with her hand as she and Ed laughed. Alphonse gave up his pretense and joined in.

That night, he slept really well, better than he had in years.

Over the next few days, the three of them spent a lot of time together (Whenever Alphonse and Trisha had time) be it brewing potions, reading books, cooking or playing Quidditch. It was, to say the least, very relaxing.

One of those days, when both of the adults had to work the whole day, Ed got started on his homework. First he did potions, it just happened to be the first one he pulled out of his bag. They were told to write a three foot essay on the properties of unicorn horn and hair.

_'Great, I wonder if I can even find enough to write about. Snape really seems to like giving out homework.'_ Ed's thoughts drifted. Before they left the school a piece of parchment was handed out to all of them stating that they weren't supposed to use magic during the holidays. _'Does that mean they have some way to track it? Guess I'll ask later.'_

He was in the middle of writing that there were unicorns in the forbidden forest at Hogwarts when he remembered his dream. Through all the chaos, he had completely forgotten about it. _'I wonder how Al is doing? I haven't been able to see him in my dreams since Halloween. Could the festival have something to do with my dreams?'_

That thought continued to distract him throughout dinner.

"Is there something you need to say?"

Ed nearly jumped, Al senior took his mind off Al junior. "W-What? Not really...? Why'd you ask?"

"Well, you've been picking at your food. It's not something you usually do."

Trisha pointed out. _'Can I tell them about the dream?'_ "Oh, well... Before we left school, professor Snape said that we couldn't use magic at home. So can the ministry track it?"

"Why, yes of course!" Trisha smiled. "It's what I do, actually."

"That's cool." Ed said, nodding to himself nearly lost in thought again.

"Anything else you want to tell us?"

_'Man, he's really sharp... Maybe I should tell...'_ "Umm..." He paused to think of what to say. "Can magic affect dreams?"

"Well, yes, sometimes."

"Do you know when that happens?"

Both of them looked at each other. Finally Alphonse answered: "Some people, who have it in their blood can have visions while they sleep. Mostly they deal with events in the future. Then there's Halloween... A lot of people are prone to nightmares on that day because dark magic is particularly strong then. I think that's all I know on the subject of dreams..." Alphonse told him.

Ed thought a bit about the Halloween part. Could his dream have been a nightmare? But it wasn't scary, even though he did tumble out of bed.

"Hmm..." Trisha said covering her mouth with her hands, thinking. "I think I read somewhere that people who share a really close bond can sometimes appear in each other's dream. But they have to be thinking of each other. But I'm not too sure about that. Why did you want to know?"

Ed piped up at that piece of information. He might be able to talk to his little brother more often if he figured out how to do it. "One of the Ravenclaws said it was possible, but I wanted to make sure." They accepted that and finished up.

After dinner they played a few rounds of wizard's chess, at which Ed lost to Al, as usual. "Still can't beat me." Al laughed, Ed pouted. "I've never beaten you..." _'at anything, since we were kids.'_ He made sure not to say it out loud.

When he went to bed that night he thought of Al. Actively thinking made it more difficult to fall asleep, but after a long time it worked and he dreamt.

* * *

The white space was all around him. Everything was white. A long, looming shadow perched on what appeared to be the floor. Turning around he saw it again. The gate. The passageway between the worlds. He must have stood there for a long time, waiting. And waiting. But nothing happened. He walked closer to the gate. A hand, his hand traced the patterns on it, but nothing happened. He dropped his hand again, silence. But nothing happened. He walked around it in a circle. But nothing happened. He waited again. But still nothing happened. Frustration. He placed both hands on it and pushed, only vaguely aware he should be pulling. So, nothing happened. He stopped, panting.

"Hey!" It was Al's voice.

A breath caught in his throat (In his dream), was Al trying to get through on the other side?

* * *

"Hey! Wake up. We need to get ready. Today's the day we're going to buy you some dress robes and pick out a present for Draco." He was sure, it was Al's voice. He cracked one eye open. Yep, it was Al standing over him, just not the Al he had been trying to find in his sleep.

"Wha' time issit...?" He asked, his words slurred as he still wasn't fully awake.

"It's nearly noon, come on, get up!" He smiled at him then left the room.

_'Why didn't it work? Did I forget something? Al should have been sleeping, right? He would think of me, right? Or maybe he was as busy as I was, but what could be so busy around there? Could another war have broken out? Was the Führer still causing trouble?'  
_

Ed brooded over the problem for a few days, especially when his foster parents weren't around. He dreamed of the gate almost everyday, when he was thinking of Al before he fell asleep. But time waits for no one and all too soon, the day of the party came round the corner. They arrived fairly early at the Malfoy manor. Not many other wizards were there yet.

"Good evening, Mr. Malfoy." Alphonse said shaking hands with the other man.

"It's good to see you too." Lucius Malfoy said slowly, nodding slightly as he did so. He then turned to face Ed. Draco was the splitting image of his father. "This is your adopted son, Edward?" Receiving an affirmative, he nodded again and continued. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too." Ed said while shaking the man's hand.

The three adults then moved along to talk about work and other such things.

"Come on, I'll show you around the house." Draco told Ed and they walked around the huge manor. The place couldn't have been much smaller than Hogwarts.

"So, how have your holidays been?" Ed asked casually.

"Well... It's been alright. Apparently father heard some rumors about Harry encountering the Dark Lord. Some said you were there too, so he asked me about it."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him it was true and that you were helping the Dark Lord." Both of them laughed, it wasn't a lie, but his dad would have quite a different picture in mind.

"Oh yeah, happy birthday." Ed said, handing him a package.

"Oh thanks, Ed. You didn't really have to..." Draco said, accepting the present.

"I really didn't know what to get you..." Ed started to say, but by then they had arrived back in the main hall, where other people had arrived.

All of them were Slytherins and their parents were there. Pansy was there too, although she was sticking out her lower lip in a frown. Draco greeted all of them politely and all of the kids followed him into the small ballroom. The parents would be entertaining themselves in the bigger one. A towering cake stood in the middle of a long table and various candies were spread out in bowls and platters on the table. There was a lot of space and games were laid out on tables surrounded by big fluffy armchairs. All of the games were of course wizarding ones like gobstones and exploding snap. After watching a few rounds, he joined in and surprisingly it was quite fun. The evening passed in a jiffy and it was time to leave. When they were about to go, Lucius Malfoy held them back a bit.

"Would you like to go to Diagon Ally to shop for school supplies with us when the letters arrive?" He asked.

Ed looked up (damn!) at Alphonse who in turn said: "It's up to you really." and smiled.

Ed agreed and the tall blond man told him they would pick him up after the letters arrived to go shopping.

* * *

In the next few days which passed too quickly while spending time with his guardians and trying to open the gate in his dreams, Draco's huge eagle owl dropped off a letter at the Knight's house thanking Ed for his present and saying that they would go shopping next Wednesday (The letters had just arrived a day ago). This meant they still had a lot of time, since it was Thursday. Trisha had been trying to teach him how to bake good bread. The house elves could do it, but she said it was just so much fun.

"You're kneading the dough wrongly, here let me show you." His golden eyes watched her as she kneaded the dough. "See, it should become smooth and airy, just like this."

Thursday and Sunday were her days off. On those days she liked to cook or bake, claiming it was her hobby. She also kept a vegetable plot, but Ed had yet to see it, supposedly she kept it hidden, else Alphonse would just pluck tomatoes and eat them. Alphonse took him along to a Quidditch game on one of his free days. That was the day Ed realized that fans were actually pretty scary. Some people who were supporting the other team were beaten up pretty badly by some hard-core fans. Al landed a few punches himself and of course had some returned to him. Ed would have gotten punched as well, if he didn't pay attention.

"What's mom going to say..." Ed muttered as they were walking down a street to find an empty alleyway to apparate in.

Alphonse's face had a huge bruise at his cheek area. "She won't say anything. She'll never have to know."

Ed turned to him and watched him pull a tube out of his pocket. He squeezed out some blue gel and rubbed his black and blue cheek. In a moment it looked as if it had never been there. Al smirked at him, he smirked back shaking his head.

"So, you knew all along you were going to get beaten up?"

"No, actually I was hoping I wouldn't."

They laughed before apparating back.

* * *

Wednesday came and found Ed in Diagon Alley walking beside Draco. The two were following Draco's father down a dark alley. He had said he had to make a small detour. The alley they were walking down went by the name of Knockturn Alley, Ed was sure it was some kind of play on the word nocturnal and wondered who the hell came up with all these names. Eventually they walked into a shop named Borgin and Burkes. Ed and Draco were told not to touch anything just before ringing the old dusty bell on the counter, to which Draco complained that his dad told him he would buy him a birthday present.

"I said I'd buy you a racing broom." Lucius said, impatiently waiting for the store owner to come.

"What good'll that do if I'm not on the house team..." He muttered under his breath.

"I'm sure if you practice a bit more you could get on it easily." Ed said, regarding one of the strange items sold in the dingy shop.

"First years aren't even allowed to have brooms, and Mr. Oh-So-Special-Potter gets the rules bent for him..." Draco muttered further, Ed couldn't tell if he really was jealous of Harry, if he was putting up a show for his father or if this was his normal attitude concerning brooms. Ed thought this behavior quite strange for the other blond.

His father frowned at him and answered calmly: "You've said this at least a dozen times already, I would remind you that most of the wizarding world sees him as their savior. No matter what, I do think it important to appear friendly toward him. At least to the public."

Ed nodded in agreement and Draco sighed loudly, as Mr. Borgin entered the front of his store. His hand moved to smooth out his greasy hair as he greeted them. Before he could start talking about the new items in his shop, Malfoy senior held up his hand, stopping the man's half rant.

"I'm not here to buy today, I'm here to sell." Mr. Borgin frowned at this statement.

Lucius briefly told the man that the ministry was conducting more raids and there were a few items at his house that would 'embarrass' him. They started moving over to business stuff, so Ed and Draco looked around the shop.

They were looking at a hand, with a description under it. Draco was studying it carefully. He turned to Ed for a short moment rocking his head left and right, probably weighing something in his mind. Then Draco suddenly asked: "Can I have that?" He pointed towards the hand.

"Ah yes! The Hand of glory! If you put a candle on it, it will only give light to the holder. Best friend of thieves and plunderers. Your son has fine tastes, sir." It suddenly clicked in Ed's head, that item would be really useful for sneaking around Hogwarts.

"I sure do hope my son will amount to more than a thief or plunderer." He replied calmly raising an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, that mudblood was not far behind you, make sure to keep up your studies."

Draco nodded, obviously a bit disappointed that he wasn't getting the hand. Ed thought he heard a small noise come from somewhere near a huge cupboard standing at a wall. He edged closer toward it, looking around cautiously while the adults had turned back to the list to haggle the price. Draco was also moving in that direction, examining nearly everything. Finally Ed reached the cupboard and was about to pull it open, but Lucius announced that he was done haggling and called for both boys to follow him. Ed turned around to leave, but was sure he heard the sound of a sleeve wiping something before he left. They walked back to Diagon Alley where Lucius told them to meet him in Flourish and Blotts later, while he went to buy Draco his birthday present.

"You know, I think I saw someone in the cupboard back in Borgin and Burkes." Ed told Draco.

"I thought I heard something as well. Anyway... What's up with this book list? I'm sure that Lockhart guy is no good. Both of my parents say so. Our new defence against the dark arts professor must be some senseless fan of his."

"Yeah, too true. I wonder if we'll ever get to learn actual defensive spells. Quirell was really bad." Ed remarked. Both of them laughed as they walked out of the apothecary.

After they got the rest of the school stuff, they waited for Mr. Malfoy in the book shop. They already picked up two sets of all of Lockhart's books, frowning at the books in disdain. They looked around at other books a bit, when a large crowd started gathering in the book store. Luckily they were on the upper floor, now it was almost empty up there, but the ground floor was stuffed with middle-aged witches. They had a good view from up there, so they watched the event. Apparently Lockhart was signing his books today. They spotted the Gryffindor trio entering the store after a few minutes. Harry was then suddenly dragged to the front with Lockhart and pictures were taken. Harry tried to escape, but Lockhart put an arm around him preventing him from doing so.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Lockhart exclaimed. "When young Mr. Harry Potter entered the book shop today wanting to buy a copy of my books, which I will present to him shortly, free of charge, he had no idea, that he and his schoolmates would be getting much more than just my book! I will in fact be teaching defense against the dark arts this school year!"

There was a huge applause in which Ed and Draco banged their heads into their hands and were not heard groaning. This confirmed their suspicions that they weren't going to learn anything this year.

As they walked down the stairs Draco said: "I bet Lockhart's happy to get a picture with Potter." He paused a bit, and then continued. "He must have been so delighted to get the front page with him."

Ed nodded his agreement.

"It's not like he wanted all that!" A fierce voice called from behind them. Both blonds turned around to see Harry and a redheaded girl beside him. The redhead glared at both of them.

"Your girlfriend, Potter?" Malfoy asked with a not-joking tone.

The girl's face was now indistinguishable from her hair. Ron and Hermione pushed their way through the crowd.

"Oh, it's just you." Ron said narrowing his eyes at him. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as seeing you in a book shop." Ed turned around to see Pansy who had just walked into the store. She looked at him with her nose in the air. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a while after paying for all of those." She said regarding the books in Ron's hand.

Draco couldn't help but snigger slightly. Ron, who was now the same colour as the redheaded girl, dropped his books in said girl's cauldron and jumped for Draco, who was trying to think of something else to stop laughing. Ed pulled his sleeve, making the other blond stumble to the side. The next moment Ron crashed into the bookshelf.

"Ron what are you doing? Let's move outside." A redheaded man who pushed himself out of the crowd said, Fred and George in tow.

"Well, well, well Arthur Weasley..." Everyone turned to see Lucius Malfoy enter the store.

All went silent to listen to the conversation.

"I hear you're getting really busy. I do hope they're paying you well." He picked up one of Ginny's old and battered looking books, examining it slightly. "I supposed I was wrong. It would appear, your efforts are not paying off."

The Weasley started turning red in the face. "I think we have a very different opinion of what does pay off." He walked closer to the Malfoy.

Ed vaguely registered some voices as he noticed Pansy disappear out of the book shop, and just as he turned his attention back, the older Malfoy had slammed into the same bookshelf Ron had slammed into beforehand. The head Weasley gripped the front of his robes tightly.

"Don't you dare insult them!" He cried.

"All righ', break it up! Break it up!" Hagrid trotted into the book store and lifted both adults apart like little boys.

"Let's not waste any more time with hopeless people, come on, boys." With that he thrust Ginny's book back towards her cauldron and swept out of the shop.

Ed was sure no one else noticed, but Lucius Malfoy had thrown two books.

* * *

During the incident at the book shop in Diagon Alley, a meeting at the ministry was taking place. It was utterly boring, because they held the same meeting every month or so, just to make sure everyone is still aware of all the things they had to do. Sometimes other little details would be brought up, like a change of shifts. Or the price of a cup of coffee in the popular café across the street.

_'I wonder how the shopping trip is going. I sure hope everything's fine, I can never be sure with Lucius. I'm sure Ed can handle himself though. Everything's so different now with him around. He's a really kind and thoughtful kid. The last few weeks passed by way too quickly. Is he really the child the Dark Lord wanted to have on his side? Somehow, I can't bring myself to think that, although Lucius confirmed that he did help the Dark Lord during the school year...'_

"Mrs. Knight, are you paying attention?"

"Yes, of course, sir..."

_'Spacing out during work is definitely new for me...'_


	16. A Messy New Year?

A/N Thanks once more for all the reviews! Now to address a question about the tracking of underage magic...

In this story, I'm just going to assume that Magic is tracked by the body's and not the soul's age. Because there is no canon information against this and otherwise the story wouldn't make any sense. And I think light magic doesn't deal much with souls, so they wouldn't know how to do it, or couldn't do it without using at least a little Dark Arts. And also, shouldn't a body's age be much easier to keep track of? If so, then why would the (lazy!) Ministry take the effort to track a soul's age when the extra work would only pay off on every millionth (or even more) kid. But because (in my opinion) magic is not allowed outside of school solely for the purpose of keeping it hidden from muggles, magic should not be tracked in exclusively magical villages and locations, like Hogwarts and Hogsmead or Azkaban (since it's isolated from the world anyway). Okay I hope that wasn't too confusing.

On another note... It's my birthday! :D

Disclaimer: I didn't get any characters and plot lines for my birthday, so I still own nothing.

* * *

After that fairly eventful Wednesday shopping with the Malfoys, the holidays passed in a jiffy. He enjoyed the rest of the days with his mum and Al, sometimes just reading in the library or playing Quidditch together. His overly eager elf Elmar kept him company when the other two were busy with work. She had been in service for Al's family for a very long time. Whenever she got the chance, she passionately recounted the tale of how she came to serve the Knights to him. Ed couldn't bring himself to be frustrated with the happy elf even though he was tired of the tale. The way she bounced about doing her chores dutifully kind of made it impossible for him to be angry with her. The day he left for King's Cross, she packed a small box full of handmade cookies and other such goodies for him. When he thanked her for it she hopped around happily and seemed to work twice as fast of usual. Like last year the three arrived at the station quite early. This time though, Ed knew where they were going. Ed held his mum's hand while Al pushed the trolley in front of them, casually heading towards the barrier. All three disappeared from sight, without anyone seeing. The scarlet train on the other side of the barrier was always a sight to behold. Its color radiated a sense of inviting warmth. Besides them, the platform was nearly empty.

"Ed, we'll really miss you. Make sure you write to us alright?" Trisha said patting him on the head.

He blushed and nodded.

"Oh and, Elmar told me to remind you to eat enough." Al laughed. "She sure has taken a liking to you hasn't she?"

"Yeah I guess. Tell her I won't forget. I'll miss you guys too." Ed replied blushing again.

The train gave out a whistle and a puff of smoke, as Al looked at his watch. "Ed, I know you're still early and I feel bad for leaving you now, but we have to go. Take care of yourself. We'll see you again soon." Al said smiling at him. "Bye! See you again soon, Ed." Al turned and started off towards the barrier again.

When Ed was about to climb up the stairs he felt a hand on his shoulder and shortly after a light kiss on his cheek. For a moment he stood there stunned. When he turned around Trisha waved to him with a kind smile on her face as she walked away. He felt his head become really hot and was certain he was as red as a tomato, if not redder, but he managed to wave back awkwardly. When he reached a compartment in the back of the train, that was sure to stay empty, his face still hadn't returned to a normal color yet. He couldn't explain why he had just felt the way he had felt. Maybe it was because he hadn't been kissed by a mother-figure for a long time, much less someone resembling his mother. Silently pondering about this while his face started to assume its normal color, other people started gathering on the platform. He looked up when he saw Draco and his parents come in. His mum kissed him as well, and he hugged her briefly. Then he turned to his father and nodded a few times. At last he made his way toward the train. Ed waved at him from the compartment and he waved back hurrying to board the train. His parents left the platform before the compartment door flew open.

"Hey, Ed! Did you enjoy the rest of the holidays?"

"Yeah, it was really fun. How about you?"

The blond nodded at Ed as he helped him lift his trunk up into the luggage rack over the seats. "It was pretty good. But that letter you sent me was bothering me. What did you have to discuss?"

"You know on the day we went shopping," Ed began, but was interrupted by the door flying open once more.

Standing at the door was none other than pansy and goons. She sniffed the air in a stuck-up manner. For a moment no one said anything. When both blonds each raised an eyebrow at her, she blurted out something unintelligible and stalked off.

"What did she say?" Ed asked to no one in particular.

"Uhh... I think she said: So the bloody Malfoy heir now hangs out with half-bloods? This is ridiculous! Bloody blood-traitor... Or something like that." Crabbe answered.

"So anyway Draco, she said that you were not on our side and we should avoid you... Uh... So I think we've got to go now..." Goyle said, miraculously looking to be deep in thought.

"For God's sake, can't you use your own brain, Goyle?" Draco said, a little angry that Pansy was being so persistent about something that was already at least half a year back

A few seconds later both Goyle and Crabbe stalked off, leaving Ed to close back the compartment door. Both boys burst out into laughter. And then they finally calmed down enough to return to their previous topic.

"Okay, so back to where we were. I saw your father tossing back two books instead of one to Ginerva Weasley. I suspect that's his diary."

"What diary?" This piqued Draco's attention. "You haven't told me anything about a diary..."

Ed blinked, but then looked at his friend sheepishly. "Oh yeah, totally forgot to tell you in all the chaos that was happening last year. Well, you know the note Quirell passed on to me?" Draco nodded and Ed continued in a whisper. "Don't take it personally, but Voldemort thinks your dad is trying to use his diary to achieve something. He said a piece of his soul was in it, and it was made when Voldemort was still really attached to the dark arts. He asked me if we could destroy it. He feared something horrible would happen if it was unleashed."

Draco took in the information quietly, finally placing his hand to his chin to think. "But, if he really had given it to Ginerva or whoever, then the damage might already be done. What if he possessed her or something like that?"

Ed was thinking hard when both of them saw the Weasleys come rushing through the barrier and trying to squeeze all of their kids onto the train at once. All except for Ron that is.

"I didn't see Ron..." Ed said as the train started moving.

"I didn't see Harry either..." the other blond said looking at Ed questioningly.

"Maybe something's wrong..." Ed was just saying, when the door slammed open briefly and a chant of 'Shorty! Shorty! Shorty!' could be heard from the corridor.

Ed promptly got up, leaned out of his compartment and shouted: "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE COULDN'T GET ONTO THE TRAIN BECAUSE HE COULDN'T CROSS THE GAP?!?!?!"

Behind him Malfoy covered his ears and in front of him the twins ran for their lives. A fuming Elric then went to sit back down on the bench with a Malfoy with one hand clasped firmly on his mouth. Ed glared at him, which didn't help him recover from his laughing. After the trolley lady came by and both bought a considerate number of sweets, they finally calmed down enough to continue their conversation once more.

"So, what're we going to do?" Draco asked Ed.

"I think we need to try and approach her about the diary and ask her to hand it to us."

"I hardly think that'll work. She didn't exactly seem friendly even though we weren't actually talking to her, remember?" Draco pointed out.

"Oh yeah, nearly forgot... They seemed kind of hostile at the shop..." Ed remarked.

"You think they found out?"

"Possibly, Harry did see me down there. I don't think he could come up with any good reason I'd be down there other than helping Voldemort. I can't even come up with an excuse myself."

They decided to wait it out first; which they had to do quite often. Nevertheless, the rest of the train ride was spent eating sweets and drinking fresh pumpkin juice.

* * *

When the train stopped at Hogsmead both boys hurried down as fast as possible trying to see if they could catch either Harry or Ron coming out from the train. They waited there being pushed around by some older students and being walked into by some first years. Those of course received death glares they weren't going to forget too soon. It also didn't help the fact that it was cold, really cold. And the setting sun did nothing against it. After everyone had gotten out of the train, their suspicions were confirmed when no sign of Harry or Ron could be found. Both boys sighed and walked towards the carriages. Ed stopped short as Draco was climbing up into the carriage.

"What's wrong Ed?" Draco asked noticing the look on his friends face. He followed his gaze towards an empty space between their carriage and the next. He startled Ed by quickly pulling him inside and shutting the door. Shortly after they started moving forwards.

"Are you alright Ed?"

"Yeah, I'm fine... Just seeing a real Thestral was kind of shocking. It's really creepy."

"I knew it!"

"Knew what?"

"I knew that the wagons were pulled by Thestrals. I asked my dad once, but he just chuckled and told me to confirm it for myself. But of course I can't do that, since I haven't seen someone die." Draco said, before quickly adding: "Not that I mind that I can't see them, of course." His gaze moved out the window to see something zooming around. "What's that?" Draco asked.

Ed turned to look at what his friend might have seen. "Umm... If I had to hazard a guess... I'd say it's a flying car. It doesn't seem to be something normal in the wizarding world, judging from your reaction."

Draco watched it zoom a bit more, nodding his head to confirm Ed's suspicion. When it stopped zooming into his line of vision, he elaborated. "Actually, I think it's illegal to modify muggle items and use them. Something about there being the possibility of the item returning into a muggle household and causing chaos."

Just then they arrived and they got out and made their way to the great hall. Ed carefully turned his gaze away from the Thestrals, not really wanting to see them again. They waited patiently as the first years were sorted one-by-one. Every one of the professors looked at least a bit worried that Harry and Ron were missing, especially McGonagall, but she carried out the sorting without missing a beat. Snape though, had left before she had even sat down the hat. What for was anybody's guess, but three of the houses seemed to be enjoying their first few minutes back at Hogwarts without his scathing gaze. After a long sorting, Dumbledore babbled a few words like the previous year, although Ed couldn't remember what he said because he was watching Ginny. From what he knew of her, which was admittedly next to nothing, she seemed to be acting like a normal eleven year old.

"Got a crush on her or something? I bet you'd go well together, two blood-traitors." Blaise said.

Ed snapped his attention back to the table he was sitting at. "None of your business..." He mumbled as food finally appeared. His stomach rumbled loudly as he took a large steak onto his plate.

A few minutes into the feast, the small side-door of the great hall opened to reveal Snape. He strode to the staff table followed by many curious gazes. There he exchanged a few words with McGonagall, who nodded and then followed him back outside.

"What'd you think that was about?" Ed asked Draco, who was sitting beside him.

"Hmm... I have no idea. My best guess would be something involving our snoopy duo, but I guess we won't find out anything tonight. But if they're here tomorrow, it's likely my guess is right."

"True..."

They quickly finished eating and walked the now familiar path to the common room, to avoid the crowd of first years who would be coming in later. Heaving a great big sigh when they saw that their room was still the same one, they walked in to unpack their belongings.

"You think we should try and check on them tonight?" Draco asked.

"Nah, it'll be way too loud in that common room to hear anything..."

"So true, Gryffindors are rather noisy, aren't they? How about checking out what others have been doing in the summer?"

Ed thought for a while before replying: "Sure."

Both of them headed up to the now full common room listening to the small talk of others around them. On the way up though, they passed the room for the other Slytherin boys in their year. The strange thing was that only Zabini Blaise's name was on the door.

"Hey what happened to your room mates Blaise? You didn't kill them did you?" Draco called as they entered the common room.

Blaise snorted and said: "Those guys? They didn't pass the end of year exams. Got put back into first year."

Draco laughed, making a few first years turn away with shame.

Other than that nothing much seemed to have happened in the holidays, so they headed back down soon enough. Ed was just brushing his teeth when Crabbe and Goyle came down with a bunch of cakes and sweets.

They stood there a few seconds before saying: "Oh, hello Draco. Hello Ed."

Ed blinked confusedly at them as they walked toward their beds.

"Hi, anything interesting happen in the holidays?" Draco asked not looking up from a book he had started reading when they got back down.

It took them another few seconds before Crabbe answered: "Uhh... Well... The ministry came to inspect our house. Didn't find anything though." He sniggered and Goyle joined in after a short delay.

* * *

The next morning Draco was up before Ed reading his book again.

Ed yawned and said: "G'morning..."

He stretched and Draco returned his greeting.

"What're you reading?" Ed asked, seeing the blond so focused on a book was kind of a rare sight.

"It's called _The basics of Animagi_." He looked up and smiled at Ed. "It's really complicated stuff. Apparently it's quite dangerous to learn as well. And anyway if you learned how to do it, you'd have to register yourself at the ministry, otherwise you could get into deep trouble if they found out."

"Sounds pretty dangerous. What's Animagi?"

"Oh right, I forgot that it's not exactly common knowledge since not many people can do it anyway. It's the art of transforming into an animal. But it's not like normal transfiguration at all. If you transfigure someone, into say a rat, that person would have the brain and mind of a rat. With the Animagus magic, the person keeps his mind. Although you can't choose what you turn into, supposedly you turn into the animal that fits you best." Draco explained.

"That's interesting. Where'd you get that book?" Ed asked curiously, he didn't think that an advanced book like that would be in the library.

Draco grinned. "My mother gave it to me for my birthday. But she told me not to tell father. I'm sure he'd flip if he knew mother let me read something that could be dangerous." At Ed's look of interest he added: "Don't worry, I'll let you read it when I'm done." Both of them laughed and Ed proceeded with his morning routine.

When Crabbe and Goyle got up, Draco put his book away, so all four of them went up to the great hall together. It seemed like they were tired of following Pansy around and listening to girls' gossip. Halfway during breakfast, Draco kicked Ed's foot lightly and used his head to subtly point in the direction of the Gryffindor table. Ed turned around to see the usual trio sit down together, although Hermione didn't look too happy.

"I wonder if they had a fight?" Draco asked thoughtfully.

A while later Pansy started in on them with loud gossip. "Did you hear? The Famous Harry Potter and his side-kick Weasley didn't think it would make a big enough impression if they arrived by train, so they came in a flying car! Hah! And apparently they crashed into that old violent tree and got pummeled." Quite a number of Slytherins howled with laughter.

Just then the post came. Like some highly contagious disease, silence spread from the Gryffindor table across the whole hall. The origin of it turned out to be a red colored envelope sitting innocently in front of a redhead.

"Oh no..." Draco said. "Quick, cover your ears."

Ed gave him a strange look, but he covered his ears nonetheless.

Almost immediately after he did so, a shriek pierced the whole hall. Because of the amount of echoes the great hall produced the words couldn't be heard all the way on the other side of the hall. It was just a babbling mess of high pitched tones. Then as suddenly as it erupted it was gone, allowing silence to fall once more. Ed carefully took his hands away from his ears, wary that it might start shrieking again. And then talk broke out once more.

Draco chuckled. "That's a Howler. It's used mainly to scold people. I've never got one before, but I heard if you didn't open it, it would open itself. I couldn't see if he opened it or not though."

"What crazy inventions wizards make..." Ed mumbled.

Not long after, Snape came around with their timetables.

Blaise groaned a few seats in front of them. "Not potions with Gryffindors again!" He complained.

Ed looked at the timetable. "Cool, we've only got Transfiguration this morning."

The first lesson of the year wasn't too interesting as they had to do some repetition. McGonagall asked them to turn beetles into buttons. Ed grudgingly turned a single beetle into a button and then immediately turned it back as soon as McGonagall glimpsed it. After that he refused to touch it anymore, but she didn't seem to mind. Draco too, put his wand aside to quietly read his book under the table. The lesson was over really fast, so they packed their bags and headed back down to the common room, all the while Draco's nose was still stuck in his book. He continued to read throughout their free time before lunch, so Ed decided to get a head start on their Transfiguration homework. They had to write a summary on all the things they learned last year and make sure they could still perform the spell. Just as Ed finished his homework, Draco finished his book and they noticed they were quite late for lunch.

"I'll just put it back in our dorm first." He said and then ran quickly down the stairs and returned back a short while later.

Both blonds hurried up the stairs towards the great hall and quickly ate their lunch. They still had charms, defense against the dark arts and a double lesson of potions that afternoon. Charms went well, aside from the fact that before they entered the classroom that annoying guy Lockhart came out of the classroom. When they entered they saw a very irritated looking professor Flitwick, but after a few excellent spells from Ed, Draco and a few Hufflepuffs he returned to his usual squeaky self. Next they had to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts. The classroom looked highly unusual to say the least. Portraits and posters of Lockhart hung everywhere. All of the pictured Lockharts smiled at them when they entered with what was supposed to be a dazzling smile. Ed and Draco took the seats furthest to the back and stacked all but one of their books in front of them. Those last two were opened up, and stood standing, so as to cover more of their sight. Lockhart came in and he looked no better than his freaky classroom in his sparkly turquoise robes. As soon as he assumed his position at the front of the classroom, Draco took out a piece of parchment and they started playing tic-tac-toe. They quickly hid the parchment under the table when Lockhart announced they would be doing a quiz first. Ed read through the questions.

1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?  
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret wish?  
3. What in your opinion is Gilderoy Lockhart's biggest accomplishment?

The questions continued for a few pages until question 54.

54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday and what would his ideal present be?

Ed snorted at the paper and asked Draco quietly what this is supposed to have to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts. Draco just shrugged and started on his charms homework. Nevertheless, Ed was in the mood for something fun, so he started answering the questions.

1. How should I know? It's probably the color of shit.  
2. Hmm... Let me see... Maybe it's to pee in his pants.  
3. Writing his name.

54. 31. February, I'm sure of it. His ideal present would no doubt be an item that reflects his egotistic idiocy. Whatever the kind of item that may be, I cannot fathom.

Satisfied with his work he put his pen down, just as Lockhart came round to collect the papers. Draco had quickly scribbled 'Don't know, don't care' on all of the papers. After collecting the papers he shuffled through them in front of the class. He flipped through them many times.

"Well, I'm disappointed to say that none of you understand very much of what you've read, or maybe you just haven't had the time to read yet? And I think all of you forgot to write your names on your papers. There sure are a lot of strange things written here though... Oh well! Not to worry, I'm sure you'll all be much better after a few lessons with me! Now let's get started."

He bent down and picked up a cage like object that was covered by a cloth and placed it on his table.

"Now, I must warn you! My job is to teach you how to defend yourselves against the evils that lurk in the big wizarding world! You might have to face your worst fears in this classroom."

Draco lifted his head slightly above the rim of his book stack to see what was happening in the front.

"However, you should know that as long as I'm here no harm can befall you! I only ask that you stay calm."

The few giggles in the classroom died out.

"I must ask you not to scream as it might provoke them!"

With those words he pulled the cage aside dramatically to reveal... Cornish Pixies. The whole class broke out into laughter which the professor must have mistaken for screams because he looked quite pleased with himself.

"Yes, freshly caught Cornish Pixies!" He announced.

Goyle laughed harder and said: "There's no way they could be dangerous! Hahahaha."

"Don't be so sure of yourself! Let's see how you deal with them! You'll have to excuse me after this; I'll just ask that a few of you put them back into the cages as soon as the lesson is over."

The pixies just seemed to burst out of the cage when Lockhart opened it. Faster than Ed would have thought possible for him he fled into his own room through a backdoor, leaving the pixies to terrorize the classroom. They smashed the windows and threw ink all over the place. Crabbe and Goyle caught some of them and squeezed their necks, making them faint from lack of oxygen and started placing them back into the cage. Ed pulled out his wand and aimed an _Immobulus_ at one of them that had just wanted to rip one of his books apart. Another one snuck up to him and attempted to throw an ink bottle in his face. He bent to the side to avoid it, grabbed the pixie and flung it into the cage. Draco also took out his wand and took out a few pixies with the freezing charm. Pansy started wailing when her robes and face got splashed with ink. Some other Slytherin girls took her and left the classroom to find a toilet. Ed avoided another assault by the pixies and punched one of the little beasts in the face, sending it hurling to the floor. Then he cast a quick levitation charm on one of Pansy's books that was left there. He flung it to knock the pixies that were hiding near the ceiling and dropping stuff on them. They fell to the floor twitching slightly. Blaise used the levitation charm to send them flying back into the cage.

When they were sure all the pixies were unconscious and back in the cage, Draco aimed at the cage and shouted "Colloportus!" The cage door swung shut and everyone left in the room breathed a sigh of relief. They packed their stuff and left for potions, leaving the room in a state of mess.


	17. Beware?

A/N Oh no! I'm late again... Seriously, I'm trying to get the chapters ready earlier, but wasn't feeling well yesterday and I went to bed, thinking I could get up later and do it... And when I woke up... It was morning already!

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews as usual. Those of you who're also authors would know how encouraging it is.

Okay on to the story!

* * *

In potions class Pansy was her usual self again. So was professor Snape, and to the chagrin of the Slytherins, so were the Gryffindors. Neville almost blew up a cauldron, but Snape was faster and vanished its contents before it could explode.

That night they went back to their hole under the Gryffindor common room. Draco did his potions homework and Ed started reading that book on Animagi. It stated that if the preparation was not done seriously the person could find himself becoming half animal and half human anytime during the training. The more he read, the more useful this ability seemed to be. Not to mention it fascinated him. Ed wondered just what animal he was most like. In the book it said that, to find that out, one had to brew a special potion, that when drunk would conjure the image of that animal in the persons head. Regardless, he didn't have the ingredients to brew the potion anyway.

Only the usual loud noises were heard in the Gryffindor common room, so they headed back down.

* * *

"Hey, do you think it's possible for us to learn this magic?" Ed asked in the middle of a push up next morning. He had just finished reading the book. Draco, who had also started doing light work outs in the morning finished his sit up and was about to answer when there was a knock on their door. Ed got up and went to see who it was.

"Good morning." Ed said when he opened the door. He was quite surprised as it was the seventh year Marcus Flint, the captain of their Quidditch team.

"Good morning. Draco I see you're up early. That's good. Just to remind you, tomorrow morning we've got training to do. Make sure you're fit."

"Sure thing." Draco replied, looking quite happy.

"You've been accepted onto the Quidditch team? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well... It was more of my father buying me onto the team. He bought the whole team new brooms. But I'm going to prove that I'm worthy of being on the team by myself. I was going to tell you, but I guess I completely forgot about it. I was too distracted with my book and the diary."

"Oh yeah, I was thinking... Do you think it might be possible to sneak up there and get the book from the dorms?"

"Sneak into the girls dorms? Are you crazy!? There are just too many things that could go wrong!"

Crabbe and Goyle started to wake up, which effectively ended their conversation.

"Let's talk about it later..." Draco said, heading for the showers.

* * *

"So why do you think it wouldn't work?" Ed asked later that afternoon.

"Because, there are a number of spells placed on the stairs to the girls' dorms. Besides even if we do get in there, we wouldn't know where she would keep such an item. Maybe we won't even be able to find it. Maybe it's so personal that she keeps it with her, all the time? And what if a girl sees us that would sure be an awkward situation don't you think?"

"Alright, alright... you convinced me. So are you ready for your very first practice tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, I think so. We're only heading there after breakfast. If you don't have anything to do, why don't you come and watch?"

"Okay, sure."

The next day, they got up early and headed for the great hall a little earlier than usual, Draco bringing his Quidditch stuff along. The rest of the Slytherin team was already there. All of them looked very happy. After a quick breakfast they marched out to the Quidditch field. Ed walked behind them; he didn't feel too comfortable with the bull-faced boys. From far away they could see a few red spots zooming around in the air. Draco looked surprised, but Marcus Flint smirked.

"Don't worry; I got a signed permission from professor Snape to let us train our new seeker."

And so, after changing up and showing their faces on the pitch, all the Gryffindors zoomed down to them.

"I booked the pitch for today!" Their captain screamed as he ran toward them.

"Yeah, but I have a specially signed permission slip here from professor Snape." Flint said holding out the paper for them to see. "I Professor S. Snape give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field, owing to the need to train their new seeker." He read for them.

The Gryffindor captain seemed distracted for a moment.

"You've got a new Seeker? Who?"

The big Slytherins stepped aside to reveal Draco standing behind them and Ed a little further away watching without much interest. He didn't particularly care about the feud between the houses. He knew that Flint knew the Gryffindor team had booked the field today, yet he still wanted to practice on this day. He could have practiced on the next day, but he most likely wanted to show off the shiny new brooms that Draco's father had bought them.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" Fred or George asked, Ed wasn't sure which one it was.

"It's funny that you mention Draco's father. Behold the generous gift he has given our team."

All attention went from Flint towards the seven finely polished brooms clutched in the hands of the Slytherins. The gold lettering glinted spectacularly in the morning sun.

"They're the very latest model. Came out just last month I believe." He said blowing a speck of dust off the broom. "Oh look... a field invasion." He said upon seeing Hermione and Ron run towards them.

"What's going on? Why aren't you playing? And what in the world is he doing here?" Ron asked looking directly at Draco.

"I'm the new Slytherin seeker, Weasley." Draco answered looking quite happy yet again.

"We've just been admiring the new brooms." Flint said smirking.

Ron's mouth dropped open when he finally realized the shiny new brooms in front of him.

"Good, aren't they?" Draco asked admiring his own broom.

Ed had to admit they were nice brooms. A thought like that would have made him laugh a little more than 2 years ago, but he had become quite accustomed to the strange ways of wizards.

"Perhaps the Gryffindor team could throw together some gold to get new brooms as well." Draco said, thinking at least Harry must have had money.

Marcus Flint grinned evilly and said: "I expect a museum would bid for those Cleensweeps." The Slytherin team laughed out loud.

Hermione having enough, calmly replied: "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent."

Flint seemed to take this as an insult to his team. "No one asked your bloody opinion, you filthy little mudblood!"

Both Harry and Ed didn't really seem to know what to do, because in an instant, Fred and George rushed forward trying to pin Flint to the ground. The rest of the teams threw itself at each other. Draco tried to hold off Wood from lunging for his captain as well. Ron took this opportunity to aim his wand at Draco.

"Take this you slimy git!" Ron shouted.

A green flash shot out of Ron's wand, only it shot out of the wrong end. It hit him in the stomach sending him flying into the air. Hermione rushed to his side. The fighters all looked toward him.

"Ron! Ron! Are you alright?" She asked him.

He tried to sit up and open his mouth to speak. But no words came out. He looked sick and he seemed to be gagging on something. And then he burped something fat, brown and slimy out of his mouth. Draco's face turned white at the thought that he could be the one throwing up slugs instead of Ron. But the rest of the team howled with laughter. Harry and Hermione lifted Ron up and headed towards Hagrid's hut. The rest of the Gryffindor team grudgingly left the field to let the Slytherins practice. The practice went smoothly and the weather was great the whole day long.

When evening came, the team finally decided to pack up and go back to the castle. Ed separated from them at the entrance saying he wanted to check out something at the library. The idea of Animagi magic wouldn't leave his mind. Even though he was quite sure he wouldn't find anything in the normal section, he thought he might at least be able to get his mind on something else by reading a book. He thumbed through quite a few books on magical creatures when he noticed it was getting very late. The librarian had already left and had locked the door, probably not knowing he was still in there. After going through his pockets and remembering he left his key in the dorm, he decided to take a quick look at the forbidden section. There weren't many books on Animagi, but he couldn't take more than one, out of fear that someone would see him and ask where he got the books from. He could hide one if it came down to it. He decided to take a small and not so thick one. It was nameless, but he could always come back for the others another time.

'_Now to get a key..._' He thought and looked around.

One of the stone bricks of the wall jutted out a bit. He walked toward it and clapped his hands. He touched it and pulled out an identical key to the one he had down in the dorm. Key in hand he strode out of the library and made his way towards the dungeon. On his way though, a strange hissing voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Come... Come to me... Let me rip you... Let me tear you..."

Ed shuddered. For a moment he stood there, not really thinking anything. He strained to hear the voice again, but nothing could be heard. Slowly he walked towards the dungeons again.

* * *

October came round and Ed hadn't heard the voice since that day. Draco was having more and more Quidditch practices because the Quidditch season was approaching. But rain was constantly pouring down bucket wise from the sky, so it wasn't a surprise that the team came in with muddy and wet Quidditch robes after every practice. A lot of people were catching a cold too. After visiting the hospital wing those people would walk around the halls with steam coming out of their ears for many hours. Ed had told Draco about the voice when he got back, but the blond thought it could have been his imagination. Ed didn't argue, although he certainly did not think it was his imagination, but the voice disappeared like it had never been there in the first place.

The morning of October the third found Ed lying on his bed staring at his pocket watch. He had once again brought it to school.

This morning, the blond didn't feel like doing anything. He just lay there and gazed at the watch, lost in his past. October third, the day they burned down their house and the fateful events that led to that action as well as all the things they did after that. There were many happy times, but mostly the shocking events came back to his mind. It all started when their mom died, they had just wanted to see her smile and had decided to revive her. The failed transmutation left him crippled and his brother without a living body. Nina and Alexander's death came to mind as well. He also didn't think he'd ever forget the incident with Barry the Chopper. At that time, he wasn't half as concerned for Winry as he was for himself. His fear had led him to act on instinct and run around in a panic. Then there was lab five and Greed and Scar and the rest of the homunculi and Hughes' death. There were many more events and of course not to mention the things that happened before his mom died: The war and auntie and uncle Rockbell's deaths. Come to think of it, death seemed to be one of their most frequent visitors. Still, he wasn't sure that all the things that happened were bad. He knew he and his brother shared a really strong bond. Winry and granny Pinako had also grown very close to him.

Ed couldn't help thinking how his life would have turned out if his dad hadn't left, if his mom hadn't died, if he hadn't tried to revive her. Would things have been better? That question, he knew, would never have an answer. Time couldn't be returned after all or at the very least not in his world. This world might have something crazy that could pull it off, but he didn't think he would try it if he was given the chance. Not with so many more things that could have gone wrong in his life. He felt eternally grateful just knowing that his brother was well and alive, waiting for his return.

That said, he wouldn't be spending more time lying in bed for this day. Like the saying went, one should let bygones be bygones and walk forward. After all, right now and here in this world, he had two healthy and strong legs to carry him forward.

* * *

Ed was both excited and worried. Halloween was approaching. On one hand he was desperate to see his brother, on the other hand he feared something terrible might happen on that day. Supposedly, it was the day where the dark arts were at their strongest; it seemed to be a day that dark wizards liked to use as well. Quirell had sneaked his troll in on this day last year, so who was to say this Halloween wouldn't prove to be the starting of the main attraction for this year. Unlike last year though, he seemed to be seeing the headmaster suspiciously frequently. He passed him at least once a day in the halls. Until now he had managed to avoid him, by taking another route staring at the floor lost in thought or reading a book while walking. Dumbledore had allowed that they came to the feast on Halloween in costumes, so many people were starting to make a costume and some ordered a costume from robe shops via owl. The night before Halloween, he found it incredibly difficult to sleep. There hadn't been many options to ask Ginny or take the book from her. Whenever they saw each other she scowled fiercely and turned away. She wouldn't even listen to anything he had to say. Ed lay awake in bed for a long time, turning over as soon as he started feeling uncomfortable. But eventually he fell asleep to find himself back in the white space. He walked towards the gate, trying to come up with something he hadn't tried yet, but the gate opened on its own. Ed walked through it hastily. Arriving on the other side, he blinked a few times. He had just found himself in Resembool, or a Resembool look-a-like.

"Ed!" His brother came running toward him, arms outstretched and ready to jump. He flew into Ed with a big hug and knocked him onto the ground.

"Al." He said smiling fondly.

Al released his brother and moved away to let him sit up. "Ed, I've missed you so! I knew it wasn't a dream! I've been having this dream though, where I would stand in front of the gate for a long time, but it wouldn't budge."

"Me too; I think it has something to do with a holiday they have here called Halloween. Supposedly dark magic is stronger on this day, although I don't understand what that has to do with the gate."

"Hmmm... Magic huh?" Al said appearing to be deep in thought. "So you can do magic right, Ed? What if you tried using magic on the gate? I mean, if it has something to do with Halloween... I'm not sure, I mean I don't know anything about magic, but there's a slight chance that maybe, the type of energy Alchemy uses is like the kind of energy dark arts use. If that were the case, it would explain why the gate opened on Halloween, because there's magic opening it."

"Hmm... You might be right Al. But then it should open with alchemy as well, right?" Ed asked more to himself, it would have been impossible for his brother to have all his answers. If both would work, then he'd definitely use magic, since it didn't require a payment or at least not one he had come to know of at this point.

Suddenly Al started laughing. Ed turned to him wondering if something was wrong. For a short moment he thought that this might turn out to be a dream or a nightmare and he was chasing wild geese. But it wasn't so.

Al leaned back and laughed. "I'm sorry, brother... It just seems weird to see you looking younger than me."

Ed restrained himself from screaming about not being short at his brother. Instead he asked: "So how have things been back home?"

Al finally stopped laughing. "Well, I think I haven't told you, but colonel Mustang successfully got rid of Bradley. But I heard he was shot in the eye, and after he left the hospital he disappeared somewhere, I'm not even sure if Lieutenant Hawkeye knows where he is." Al paused looking sad. "Winry and Granny are fine, but we have a new führer and from the way things are going in the moment we'll have a war in the west."

"I'll hope for the best and try to come back quickly, but there's a silent conflict going on my end as well." He quickly described the situation to Al. "I've already tried talking to her, but she just walked away before I could even say 'hear me out, please'."

Al looked to be thinking and Ed was about to add _'and all this because our conversation was misinterpreted'_, but a blinding white surrounded him at a rapid speed, making him blink.

The light faded and his eyes adjusted, he found himself back in the dorms. It was still dark outside and the room was silent except for the soft snoring of his dorm mates. He tried getting back to sleep, but found it was even more impossible than last night. So he got up and started his morning routine. Nothing horrifying happened for which Ed was glad. After lunch Draco pulled him back to their dorms.

"You haven't got a costume, right Ed?" He asked.

"No, I haven't got one, why?" Ed felt he was keeping something from him.

Draco opened their dorm room and pulled Ed into it. Instantly, Ed saw two packages lying innocently on Draco's bed.

"You didn't!" Ed said gaping.

"Oh yes I did, Ed." Draco smirked at him. "I knew you would avoid it if you could. But you can't now. Besides, it'll be fun. You really need a break from all this dark business."

"Well... But..."

_'Maybe you should do it, brother.' _Ed jumped, that voice in his head... That was his brother's voice!

_'Yes it's me, Ed.'_ Al chuckled in his head.

"Well... Alright..." He told Draco.

"But you can't see it until just before the feast, alright?"

"Whatever..." Ed muttered.

Draco seemed satisfied with the answer and took one of the packages placing it on Ed's bed. He then ran off to Quidditch practice.

Ed sat down on his bed.

_'He seems like a nice person.'_ Al said after a while.

_'How did you get in my head Al? And why in the world can you read my thoughts?'_ Ed asked in his head.

_'Well, after you suddenly disappeared, I woke up. And I thought, if the gate would only open up willingly on this day and only when we're both asleep, what if I could open it by force? So I quickly did some tiring exercises and then went back to sleep in my room. I dreamed of the gate again, then I just clapped my hands and opened it and I found myself here.' _Ed listened speechlessly to the voice in his head.

_'Al... I would have never thought of doing something like that.'_ Ed thought.

He heard Al giggling a little, he still loved being praised. _'By the way, who was that just now?'_

'_That was Draco, a friend. He's helping me, but I haven't told him of you and that I can speak parseltongue, the language of snakes. Anyway, so Al you can see what I'm seeing right? Do you want to see the school?'_

_'Sure!'_ Al said, sounding happy.

So Ed spent the afternoon walking around the school grounds, he even walked to the Quidditch pitch to show Al what a Quidditch match was like.

And suddenly he remembered what he forgot to tell Al. _'You know, when I arrived in this world I was an orphan right? Well, I got adopted by these two people and one of them looks exactly like mom! And her husband, he looks like you! And they have the same names too!'_

_'Hmmm.... Does that mean there's a double for everyone in this world?'_

_'Yeah, I think that's what father told me the last time I was here.' _Ed thought as he walked back down to the dorms.

It was time to get dressed for the feast and Draco would be coming down in a little bit, he was changing into his uniform and taking a quick shower in the changing room, since the Slytherin changing room had showers it was a good thing to do.

_'This place is lovely. I wish I could really be here with you.'_ Al said wistfully.

_'Nah, I wish I could be backing home with you and Winry and granny and everyone else. I even miss that rude colonel.'_

Ed reached the room and walked to the package lying on his bed. He opened it and took out the bundle of fabric. It was red and looked scaly, he unfolded it and saw a note on the costume.

'Halloween dragon costume! Once it is worn you can control the flapping of the wings and the swishes of the tail! Scare all your friends on Halloween with the illusion of flaming breath!'

_'Cool! Ed, try it on! Quick!'_ Al urged him in his mind.

_'Alright, alright...'_ It was kind of embarrassing to be dressing up in his opinion. "I'm too old for this..." He mumbled while getting into the costume.

It fit surprisingly well. Ed saw the mirror standing in the bathroom and went to see how he looked. He gaped at the mirror. The hat piece that he put on his head must have had some wacky magic on it, because his head looked exactly like a dragon's head now, the gloves and boots as well. For a moment he stared at the mirror. Then testily he tried moving the wings. They moved according to his will. The tail as well, moved as he wished it to. Then he took a deep breath and blew the air out hard. To his surprise a fire did come out of his mouth. Only, if it really were a fire, it would have melted the glass of the mirror. He heard Draco come in and went out to say thanks for the costume. But the blond waved him off and said it was nothing. Draco quickly snatched up his own costume, which turned out to be a vampire costume. It came complete with pointy ears and two sharp fangs. Coupled with the blonde's pale complexion, it was really a fitting costume.

"I'm never going to let you stay around me when I'm going to sleep anymore. Else you might just suck up all of my blood." Ed told him laughing.

"Well, you don't really have much choice, unless you want to sleep with Zabini."

"Hell no, he'd kill me, dragon or not. He hates my guts."

_'How can you say something like that brother! I mean he didn't tell you directly that he hates you, right? How would you know?'_ Al asked shocked that his brother would say something like that of someone.

_'Trust me Al, he really does hate me.'_

Al didn't seem happy, a feeling in his stomach told him so, but the younger Elric dropped the subject, instead marveling at the wondrous decorations in the great hall. Giant pumpkins stood in the corners with all sorts of expressions cut onto their surfaces. Bats flew around in swarms and just barely passed their heads. Some fake ghosts flew about.

_'Those aren't anything special,'_ Ed remarked to his brother. _'Wait 'till you see the real ones.'_

A few skeleton couples were dancing around and other skeletons were leading students into the hall and even danced with some of the girls. The rest of the students had not slacked off on their costumes as well. Crabbe and Goyle had dressed up as trolls, some Hufflepuffs looked like pumpkins. Others had dressed up as anything from ghosts to cauldrons. Ed felt Al practically gaping at all the things. Then Dumbledore came in and silenced the noisy students.

"I am sorry to inform you that the ghosts will be attending a different party tonight. But of course, I still hope you will enjoy the feast!"

The old man bowed slightly and stepped away from his pedestal. Even Al, who never failed to see the good in people shivered slightly. _'That man gives me the creeps. Is he Dumbledore? How could people not see that he looks fishy?'_ Al asked.

The food suddenly appeared on the table making Al gasp.

_'Don't know.' _Ed thought, helping himself to a bowl of delicious looking pumpkin soup._ 'Al, right now, I wish you were here. You don't know how great this stuff tastes.'_ Ed thought after his third bowl.

"Looks like Ed is a greedy pig as usual." A voice piped in. Ed turned to where the voice came from. It didn't surprise him to find out it was none other than Blaise Zabini.

"None of your business." Ed replied taking a piece of meat with thick crimson sauce practically flowing from it.

"You're a disgrace to the name of Slytherin, Shorty." Blaise said.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE COULD LIVE IN A NORMAL SIZED PUMPKIN AS IF IT WERE A CASTLE!?" Ed shouted standing up and glaring down at Blaise.

The great hall was silent for a moment, but then continued as if nothing happened. Ed sat down again, fuming. He was sure the git would have continued insulting him if he hadn't heard Crabbe and Goyle's knuckles cracking beside him. Ed was glad he shut up and Al didn't complain about his brother's foul thoughts. Soon after desert magically appeared on the table. There was everything from normal looking candy to pudding that looked like brains and fruit drinks that looked like eyes were floating in them. Ed suddenly remembered what else Halloween brought with it and quickly looked around to see if he could spot Harry and the other two. Nothing. Then he searched for Ginny. Not there as well. Draco seemed to have noticed his searching gaze because he nudged Ed.

"They went to nearly-headless-Nick's 500th death day party."

Ed looked relieved to hear that but then asked: "What about Ginny? Is she with them?"

"No, I don't think so..." Draco trailed off suddenly looking a little worried.

_'Brother, calm down. I'm sure nothing bad happened. I mean, she's only 11 right? It's not every day an eleven year old does something... Horrible...' _Al trailed off.

Ed told himself Al was probably right and he shouldn't panic, maybe she just didn't feel like attending. After finally eating enough, the food vanished and Dumbledore bid everyone good night and wished them happy dreams. The sea of students flushed into the hallway. Ed and Draco got to the front eager to reach the hall where they would split up, so the crowd would become more bearable. But everyone in front of them stopped short. Those in the front gasped. Ed tried standing on his toes to see what was going on. The scene was quite shocking. Harry, Hermione and Ron stood in front there, looking like deer caught in headlights. Under the dim, flickering flame of a candle the faint figure of a cat was visible, hanging stiffly from its tail. And Scrawled across the wall in bright red and messy letters were the words:

'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.'


	18. A Little Snake?

A/N Yay, I love reviews! I swear this time I wasn't at fault that it was uploaded late. The site wouldn't let me upload it! I'm really sorry. Alright, I have nothing left to say. Enjoy!

* * *

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, mudbloods!" It was Blaise, his usually expressionless face currently sported a wide grin directed in the direction of the still cat.

Ed froze on the spot and Draco paled.

"What in the world?" Ed muttered under his breath. In his mind there was no doubt this was the doing of the diary. The other students started to murmur. Quickly he tried looking about, but by now those in the back had heard of the cat and were trying to push forward to get glimpse of her.

"What's going on here?" Argus Filch called roughly pushing past the students. He stopped abruptly when he saw his cat, even the puddle of water reflected her stiff and still form. "My cat! My cat! You've killed her! You've killed her!" He shrieked turning to Harry with his wide tear stained eyes.

Alphonse started to cry inside Ed's head making him feel a sudden rush of sadness sweep through him.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" The caretaker shouted about to launch himself at Harry who was still too shocked to do anything.

"Argus!" The strong voice of the headmaster called, arriving with many other teachers behind him. This stopped the man in his tracks. The caretaker was no doubt about to tell Dumbledore how Harry had killed his cat, but with a firm upheld hand the headmaster silenced him. Swiftly he walked towards the cat and took her from where she hung. "Argus, come with me. You too Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger." The old man said.

"May I suggest my office headmaster? It is the closest. Please feel free to use it." Lockhart said, his fake smile still plastered across his face as if there was nothing unusual about what had just happened.

Dumbledore looked a little annoyed but nonetheless answered kindly. "Thank you Gilderoy."

With that all the teachers, the caretaker and the troublesome trio took off to Lockhart's office. The students watched motionless as they walked away, Ed noted that Lockhart almost had a spring to his step which made him scowl at the teacher from where he stood. After the teacher walked around the corner the students dispersed, although made up rumors were already making their way to all the ears of the students. Ed grabbed Draco's arm and quickly pulled him into the next closest toilet. After waiting a few painful seconds till the sounds of footsteps were faint, he sprinted out of the toilet as quietly as humanly possible up to Lockhart's office. Draco followed a little ways behind him; he still wasn't used to sneaking around yet.

From inside the office wailing could be heard. That was most likely Filch. Upon closer hearing, Ed made out whispers of some spells.

And even above Filch's wailing, they heard Lockhart babbling. "...I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadougou." said Lockhart. "A series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once..." He further proclaimed.

Everyone else in the room seemed to be ignoring him though, because Dumbledore's voice suddenly broke his ramblings. "She's not dead, Argus."

"But... But then why is she so stiff... and so... frozen... Why won't she move?!" Filch cried out, making Al's spiritual heart wrench.

_'Such pure love for his cat!'_ Al declared to Ed.

"She is merely petrified."

("Ah! I knew it! Poor thing!" Lockhart claimed.)

"Though how, I cannot say." Dumbledore said. He sounded for once confused and not sure what to do.

"He can tell you! He's the one who did it!" Filch said, presumably pointing at Harry.

"I very much doubt a second year could-" Dumbledore began only to be interrupted by Filch.

"He did it! He did it! You saw what he wrote on the wall! He saw my letter! He knows- He knows! He knows I'm a- a- a squib!"

Ed thought he had finished rather lamely, then again he could be wrong since he had no clue what 'squib' meant.

"I never touched your cat! And I don't even know what a squib is!" Harry shouted.

"Rubbish! He saw my Kwikspell letter!" Filch retorted.

But then Snape decided to make himself known. "If I may, headmaster. Potter and his friends might have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I do wonder why he was there at all, why wasn't he at the feast?"

"We were at Nearly-Headless-Nick's death day party, sir! Harry promised him we'd go." Hermione supplied.

"There were more than hundred ghosts there; you can ask them if you don't believe us." Ron said.

"But why not come to the feast afterward? I'm sure ghosts don't offer anything for the living to eat?" Snape asked in a cold tone.

"Because... Because... Because..." Harry sputtered.

Ed told himself to insert a lie there. Whatever the truth was he wasn't about to tell, that much Ed could say for sure. He knew Harry enough by now and Harry rarely spilled his guts to adults, much less teachers.

"Come on..." Ed whispered to Draco before sneaking off toward their common room.

The common room was full of students discussing the incident.

"What d'you think happened to that ugly cat?" asked one of the upperclassmen.

"I have no clue. But you think it died? It looked pretty dead, but you can't be sure, right?" another one replied.

"I wonder what Slytherin's monster is. You think it's a beast no one has heard of before?" Someone elsewhere in the common room said.

"I sure hope so, and I hope it kills all those filthy mudbloods."  
_  
'Brother these people are mean... I hope you aren't like them.'_  
_  
'Yeah, I know. That's why this house is associated most with dark Arts. Hmm... Slytherin's monster? This needs to be researched...'_ Ed thought as he headed for the stairs.

Draco stayed back up in the common room to talk to some other students, since his birthday party he started talking more to the others. He had never talked much to other Slytherins, besides Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy, even before he met Ed. Said golden haired teen went to rummage around in his trunk to look for his copy of Hogwarts, A History. He began skimming through the book. When he bought it, he never thought that he'd be reading it for more than fun. He stopped when he read the part of Salazar Slytherin leaving Hogwarts.

'Because Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective of the students (unlike his three partners), he left the school. Although he left, it is said that he did not truly want to leave. According to legend, he had built a secret chamber in the school, in which he hid a monster. This monster was to be released by his true successor to finish his 'noble work'. Much speculation has been made as to what the work or the monster might be. The most popular and believable one claiming the monster would rid the school of all mudbloods.'

_'Al, what do you think? Could this be plausible?'_

_'Yes, I think so. I think -'_ And then his voice just vanished.

Ed almost panicked before remembering that he might have just woken up. Deciding to try it out for himself, he quickly dressed up and went to sleep.

* * *

And there stood the gate. Ed quickly ran to it, ready to use alchemy on it. But he didn't transmute it; he stopped just in front of the gate, remembering that alchemy needed an equivalent exchange. _'What did Al sacrifice?'_ The thought passed just as abruptly as it had come. Ed wanted to pull out his wand, but then noticed he didn't have it with him. Once again, he became frustrated. But then a thought struck him, although he couldn't remember what it was a moment later. He stood there thinking again, when he remembered. He could use magic without a wand, but he hadn't tried that yet.

_'Better now than later.'_ He thought.

His thoughts were finally becoming slightly clearer, it always happened when he was in this space. He closed his eyes and focused on his palms, and then he struck it against the door along with the incantation _'Alohamora_'. He waited a moment but nothing happened.

_'What could have gone wrong? Is it not possible to open it with magic? Is it the wrong spell? Did I just do it wrongly?'_

Ed decided to try again. He focused until he almost startled himself out of his concentration. He could literally feel the magic spilling from his palm. He faced toward the gate and, careful to maintain his concentration, slammed his open hand onto the door, shouting _'Alohamora!'_ at the top of his lungs. The gate swung open and he fell forward into a room that seemed familiar to him. He also heard a familiar voice.

"Al, you should really get out of bed and eat something! You'll get sick if you just sleep the whole day." She sighed. "Did you stay awake the whole night researching again?"

"Winry you don't understand! I need to get back to sleep now!"

"No, you don't. Now get into the kitchen and eat something, I've just warmed up your dinner. You better not let it cool down again." She said while waving a wrench in front of his nose.

"A-A-Alright, Winry..." Al said and then he gulped and hurried off into the kitchen to eat.

He scooped himself a bowl of stew before sitting down at the table.

_'Looks tasty as usual.'_ Ed commented as if it was normal to be seeing everything his brother saw.

Al jumped and looked around, before realizing that Ed was in his head._ 'Man brother! You scared me!'_ Al thought. Ed heard his voice clearly.

Ed smiled an imaginary smile. _'It's good to be back home, even as a ghost sort of thing.'_

_'Yeah, I bet it is! Speaking of ghosts, brother, d'you think it could be a ghost? I mean that attacked Mrs. Norris. Can ghosts do such things?'_

_'No I doubt it Al, I mean aside from Peeves, who isn't even actually a ghost, none of the ghosts can even touch things, much less petrify anything.'_

_'Oh...'_ Al said, quickly eating the stew.

Al got up and washed his dish before going back to his room and sitting down at the desk, where a book lay open. He put his head over it as if he were reading.

_'Oh yeah brother?'_ Al said, letting a yawn escape. _'I think we shouldn't try this too much, it doesn't let your mind recover while you're asleep, so you'll wake up quite tired.'_

_'I'll be sure to remember that. But the same doesn't seem to be true for us meeting in that dream space, or whatever you want to call it.'_

_'Yeah true...'_ Al paused for a while. _'Brother, do you think the cat will be okay?'_

_'Al, you heard the headmaster yourself, it's just petrified and if my memory serves me right, the antidote is made out of Mandrakes. And we've just been growing them, they'll be ready to harvest soon and Snape has never failed at making a potion before. I'm sure it'll be fine. But I'm worried about what it says in the book. It says that the monster can kill, not just petrify, which is not a very good sign if you ask me. What if it kills someone? Or, we can't stop it?' _Al seemed to fidget a bit.

_'You could always try and use alchemy to just destroy it, but... that's inhuman...'_ He more or less mumbled in his head. _'But if worst comes to worst, promise me that you'll protect yourself okay? I don't want to lose you again.'_

_'I promise, Al.'_ Ed replied, feeling the same.

_'Alright, brother. I think you should go back. I mean, you had an eventful day and you need all the rest you can get to search for information tomorrow.'_

_'I'm fine, Al, really. And anyway, I have no idea how you get back.'_

_'Oh, right. Hmmm...'_ Al thought._ 'How did you open the gate? I know I did it with alchemy, but did you try anything else?'_

_'Yeah, I used magic. It was a sort of spell to open locked things.'_

_'How about locking it then?' _Al asked.

Ed thought it over for a while. _'Maybe, but then my soul might get stuck here with my body on the other side.'_

_'I wasn't even thinking that far yet.'_ Al admitted rubbing the back of his head. _'Brother, do you think... Do you think that it's possible to transport not just your soul and mind, but also your body with this method?'_

_'It might be possible, yeah. But then we'd probably have to open the gate and we'd be back to square one. Oh yeah, what was it that you gave to the gate to get over there?'_ Ed said.

_'That's exactly it, brother! I didn't give anything, or at least I haven't realized what I lost. Maybe, you know... Maybe they aren't even the same gates at all.'_

_'You could be right Al-'_

"Al? You're not seriously planning to stay awake the whole night again are you? You need to get your sleeping rhythm back to normal, you know. So maybe you could do more than sit in your room with artificial light. You should get some sun light as well you know, it's good for you." Winry called from the other side of the door.

"Umm... Sure okay... I'll just be going to sleep now..." Al answered. Satisfied with his answer she walked away. He stood up and sighed, then went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and hop into bed.

_'Now that I think about it, in the journal left by our father he wrote that it wasn't possible to open the gate with magic. But then I'd somehow have to open this gate for real, not just in my mind, to transport my physical body over to this side. But we don't even know anything about this gate.'_ Ed reasoned. Al yawned again.

_'I hope you can find something about it. I'll try my best too, but I don't know how much I can do with just alchemy alone, I've got a feeling this gate involves much more magic than alchemy. Or maybe just magic.'_

_'Alright Al. Don't push yourself too hard. I'll definitely find a way, but I need to deal with the monster first.'_

_'Okay, but I'll try to come visit you again soon, when I'm more awake...'_ Al trailed off, obviously exhausted.

_'Sleep tight, Al.'_ Ed whispered.

Al must have fallen asleep because Ed found himself hurtling through the gate once more. It stood open and Al was there, albeit on the other side. Ed wanted to go to him, but Al shook his head giggling a little, then he ran over to Ed.

"I feel so much more awake in this place, maybe it's because I'm actually sleeping?" Al asked. Before Ed could answer though, Al started talking again. "We talked so much about our current problems. Let's talk about something lighter. Like... What kind food do you eat there? It looked really delicious, and judging from the way you ate, it must have been good."

Ed blinked a bit at the sudden change of subject, but felt that Al was right, _'We need to talk about nonsense more often.'_ "Well, there's all sorts of good stuff, like shepherd's pie, steaks, chicken wings, eggs and bacon, sausages, mashed potatoes, pasta and best of all, no milk!" Ed grinned and Al laughed. "They serve pumpkin juice instead. It's really good!"

"But pumpkin juice doesn't have the same nutrients as milk. You won't grow taller if you don't drink your milk!" Al said in a concerned sort of voice.

Ed glared a bit, but couldn't bring himself to rant at his brother's sincere smiling face. "Yuck... And anyway I'm not small..." Ed muttered.

Ed blinked and suddenly he was back in the dorm. Belatedly, he noticed that someone was screaming. He looked around quickly and spotted Crabbe who was sitting upright in his bed. It was difficult to see, but Crabbe's eyes weren't focused on anything in particular and he just sat there screaming.

"Could you please shut up Crabbe? It was just a nightmare." Draco shouted from the bed beside Ed's.

Abruptly the screaming stopped, Crabbe seemed to focus on the annoyed Malfoy for a moment before dropping his head back onto the pillow, which made a soft smacking noise. A moment later he was snoring again. Ed noticed that Goyle miraculously stayed fast asleep.

"Thank god..." Draco mumbled, half asleep before placing his head back gently onto the pillow.

After that Ed just couldn't fall asleep anymore. He tried to think of a way he could get back on his own, but nothing occurred to him.

* * *

The next day, every second person was talking to every other person about the incident last night.

One of the conversations went as follows: "I bet it was that thing... What was her name again? Ah, yeah! Moaning Myrtle must have done it! She's so horrible, putting a whole bathroom out of order because of her selfish wailing."

Of course this was just a senseless rumor, but it got Ed's curiosity.

"Who's Moaning Myrtle?" He asked Draco at the breakfast table.

"Moaning Myrtle? Hmm... I think I remember my mom say something about it... Oh yeah..." Draco paused for a bit, he looked uncomfortable.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Ed added quickly, he wasn't sure he wanted to hear something that made his friend uneasy.

"No, it's just... When I was seven, my father told me I'm smart and I'd surely do well in school. Well, we had never talked about school before, so I didn't exactly know what it was. I went to ask my mother and she told me that all magical children go to Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry, when they're eleven and stay there for almost the whole year. At that time, the thought of not seeing my parents for such a long time made me really uneasy." Draco blushed a bit, obviously more than a little embarrassed. "My mother then told me how nothing could happen to me at Hogwarts; she said both her and my father had to go through it as well. Then she told me that the only person that had ever died at Hogwarts was Moaning Myrtle, who was just unworthy to study magic."

"But what did those girls mean by Moaning Myrtle did it?" Ed asked after listening to Draco's tale.

The other blond shrugged. "I guess if she's still around it means she became a ghost."

Later that day Ed decided to check out the bulletin board that hung in their common room. He hadn't ever looked at it before and still didn't feel the need to do it, but some nagging feeling at the back of his mind told him to. There were a whole lot of different colored papers hanging there. One for the dates of the flying lessons for first years, another one for Hogsmead weekends, there was even a list of useful spells and how they were performed. Then there were the lists of educational objectives for all seven years and a calendar which automatically marked the current date, as well as a list of the prefects for this year. And then his eyes flicked to a small note. It was hand-written in a writing that passed as readable, but wasn't exactly nice.

'All girls are reminded that the second-floor bathroom is out of order, as a fat, ugly, moaning and moping ghost has decided to constantly crash and splash toilet water all over the floor. It is advised to use the bathroom on the third or first floor, as using that toilet can be quite uncomfortable.' It was signed by one of the prefects, he checked the name on the list just to be sure.

Now, the only problem was how he was going to get in and out of the toilet unseen. Filch had been patrolling the exact spot where his cat had been found petrified, the whole day long. He continuously scrubbed at the wall hour after hour with magical cleaning agents, but for some reason the writing wouldn't come off, which didn't improve his mood. Ed had heard firsthand how he tried to put a few students in detention for breathing, being happy, talking, existing and other nonsensical reasons. So obviously, trying to seek out Myrtle at this point of time was a ridiculous thing to do. Nevertheless, Ed filed the information away for the time being. It could be useful when Filch finally decided to get over it; the cat still lived after all. But Ed guessed that wouldn't be happening for a while, so instead the next day he tried to tackle the problem from a different angle, namely Slytherin's monster.

_'What in the world can kill, petrify and move around the castle unnoticed?'_ Ed asked himself as he hovered his hand over a few books in the magical beasts section of the library. His hand stopped over one of the books. _'Strange, I don't remember this being here...'_

He took it off the shelf and headed over to one of the empty study tables. Just further down the aisle he was searching in, Hermione was looking around for something specific. Ed could tell that from the way she was standing and looking at the shelf.

_'Isn't that the shelf with the historical texts?'_ Ed just remembered that he had seen at least ten students go there in the short while that he had been in the library today. But he thought nothing more of it and continued towards a table.

At first he just looked at the cover, the author's name was very strange.

_'Neimeo Tilg? It's almost as weird as Dumbledore though, so I guess it might not be too strange. Might have been someone in one of the history texts...'_ He tried to ignore the feeling that he should know this person and flipped _A Detailed Book on Magical Creatures _to the first page. It started with a little bit of information on the author, really just a bit.

'Not much is known about the author, but it has to be said that his work is very detailed indeed, he would have won a prize for this very informative book, if people actually knew where he disappeared to.'

Ed frowned at that, he knew that description fit someone he knew, but he couldn't place who it was. Ignoring his feeling again, he started flipping through the very large book. Every creature had at least five pages allocated to it. The first was always reserved for a sketch, or even a few, of the creature. He read every entry carefully; the book described their abilities, distinctive characteristics, aging process, habitat, diet, social life, reaction toward and behavior around humans, as well as the standard Ministry of Magic danger classification.

Ed noted that the book looked very new, it had no dog-ears and no torn pages and the parchment and ink weren't faded. But something about the way the text was written disturbed him.

It didn't take long for him to find a beast matching his information. The Basilisk could both kill and petrify with one glance aside from having one of the most potent poisons. It could live to be several thousand years old, and could survive on very little food if there was a food shortage.

_'This has to be it!'_ Ed thought._ 'But how could such a thing move around the school undetected?'_


	19. The Key?

A/N Finally on time! I want to note that most of Lockhart's text was taken from the book, because I couldn't find anything else for him to say. It would have been quite OOC.

Disclaimer: I don't own neither Harry Potter nor Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

"A basilisk?" Draco paced their room.

Crabbe and Goyle were still eating dinner. Their common room was still empty.

"I'm quite sure. It would also make sense, since Slytherin's representative animal is a snake."

"But then... The whole school would be in incredible trouble, not just the muggleborns! I mean, a basilisk wouldn't choose its pray, it just literally kills on sight!" his pale hair had more color than his face in the moment.

"Yeah, I know..."

A spiteful laugh could be heard from above them. Draco went out to check out what it was. Ed continued pacing the room in Draco's stead. This was very unnerving, how the hell could he defend himself against something he couldn't see? Draco came crashing down the stairs again.

"Blaise just told me!" He said between a few deep breaths and after the closing of the door.

"Percy Weasley took points off his own brother for going into a girls' toilet and doing some snooping around. It was Myrtle's toilet."

Ed's eyes widened. Nothing had to be said, one after another, they slipped into their little hole to try and catch any information at all on the movement of the Gryffindors. For a short while they heard nothing, and then for a long while they heard random Gryffindor chatter. Ed thought he heard something, so he crawled into one corner and pressed his ear to the stone.

"Come on Hermione! It had to have been Malfoy."

"Explain yourself. Until now he hasn't done anything suspicious this year."

"He did buy his way onto the Quidditch team..." Harry mumbled.

Ron ignored him, preferring to continue on his line of thought. "That's exactly it isn't it? Last year he was a total prat, and now he's all innocent. Doesn't that make him the most suspicious? And anyway, I don't think it's someone from the upper classes. I mean, if it were, they would have opened the chamber long before we entered school right? What I'm trying to say is, which Slytherin would pass up the chance to wipe out all muggleborn and half-blood students?"

"Hmm... You might have a point Ron... But that doesn't mean it's definitely Malfoy. What about Zabini? Or Elric?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione, why would you think that it's Ed?" Harry asked, he sounded annoyed.

"Aside from the strange feeling he gives me, it's clear to us, or at least me, that he is either working for you-know-who or needs to have a very good reason why he was down there last year. Another fact is that he is smart enough to have made up a plan that wouldn't put him in the spotlight. So even though he came, like many of the other students, from the great hall after the feast, I'm sure he would have come up with something. That's also why I left out Crabbe and Goyle; they're too stupid to be Slytherin's heir. And also, I heard from some paintings last year, that a certain Slytherin with long blond hair, in a braid wandered up and down the castle very often. If it really is him, then I suspect that he was searching for the chamber at that time."

"Okay, Hermione. But this is only assuming that he really is the heir. But what kind of great Slytherin heir would be left with muggles? If his parents died, then there surely would have been someone to adopt him straight away, right?"

"I'm not so sure about that Harry. His blood might not even be pure. The problem is we have no idea what shows that someone is Slytherin's heir. And you heard Binns; the castle had been searched many times, even Dumbledore tried. So I think that Slytherin's heir must have a key or something that Dumbledore does not." Hermione reminded them.

"I still bet it's Malfoy." Ron said.

"Yeah, he could be right. Malfoy's family has been Slytherin's for ages. They'd probably have something that had been Slytherin's." Harry agreed.

"Malfoy? True, but like I said, that would also be true for Zabini."

"Zabini hates blood-traitors and muggleborns, but it's not like he's done much about. In my opinion, Malfoy would definitely do something if he had the chance. And I bet his father would still be proud of him even if he got put in Azkaban for getting caught killing people." Ron said.

"Argh! I wish there were some way to find out." Harry said with a loud sigh.

For a while there was silence from the three. Ed was about to turn around when Hermione suddenly said: "I suppose it's possible..."

Ed stopped in his tracks and turned back to the corner. "Of course, it'll be very dangerous and of course difficult. And we'll be breaking about fifty rules."

"If you feel like telling us in a month or so, you can tell us so now and we can save our time." Ron stated in an annoyed tone.

Hermione groaned. "Alright, alright... What we need to do is to get into the Slytherin common room, ask Malfoy a few questions and then get out of there without anyone knowing who we are. Before you protest and say it's not possible, I'll just tell you that it is. It's possible with Polyjuice potion, Snape mentioned it in class once, but I don't think either of you would have remembered."

Neither of them had anything to say, so Hermione continued: "It allows the drinker to transform into someone else. I bet if we could just get into the common room, Malfoy would tell us anything, he might even be boasting of it now."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ron asked with a hint of excitement and impatience.

"It's not that easy!" Hermione retorted. "First we need to get the recipe. Snape said it could be found in a book called Moste Poten-"

"Then why are we sitting here and not in the library?" Ron asked again.

"Will you just listen to me?!" She hissed at him, mindful to watch her volume.

It would cause them great trouble if anyone found out what they were doing. Ed listened and he could imagine a glaring competition going on up there.

"Okay." Ron replied, this time he sounded almost scared.

"Alright, the book is called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the restricted section of the library." She specially emphasized restricted.

"And we'd need to get a signature to get a book out of the restricted section." Harry finished for her. "Then this'll never work! No teacher is going to give us a signature for a book like that; they'll know immediately that we're up to something."

"Maybe if we tell them we're just interested in the theory they'd sign it for us."

"Hermione, no teacher's that stupid..."

"We'll just have to try. I'm quite tired now; I think I'll be going to bed. See you tomorrow then." Hermione said.

"I'm going to sleep, too. Good night, Ron."

Ed and Draco quietly crept back out of their hole, after checking to see if no one was in their room.

"The signature... They're probably getting it from Lockhart. He would be stupid enough to put his signature on anything." Ed remarked.

"I agree on that one. And his classes are horrible anyway. Why would Dumbledore have chosen him out of all people to teach his students...? Maybe he really is aiming to turn everyone in wizarding Britain into dunderheads." Draco said looking quite frustrated with that revelation. "But are they really trying to brew Polyjuice? I heard it's very complex and even if they get the signature, there's no way they'd have the ingredients."

"Then, they'll get it from somewhere else... From Snape, I expect."

Draco frowned and looked at Ed. "Stealing from Snape? You think they can pull it off? It's more likely that they'd get caught. And both of them are in enough trouble, you heard Weasley's howler. And Granger... I don't think she has the guts to do it, she's Miss perfect, and she wouldn't steal from a teacher..."

Ed nodded and thought for a bit. "It's true, but we can't count it out, I'm sure they'd try even if they were in trouble."

Both were silent for a while and then they heard some knocking on their door. Ed opened again and once again he was faced with the tough-looking Quidditch captain.

"Is Draco in here?" He asked.

"Yeah, he's in." Ed said, stepping aside so that the older boy could see Draco. "We're having a last minute practice session tomorrow evening for the upcoming match. Not that these brooms aren't awesome, but we have to win, so make sure you're ready. The Gryffindors can be tricky opponents, and you saw how fast that Potter caught the Snitch last year against the Hufflepuffs."

"Yeah, I know." Draco said, and Flint then left the room. "You know Ed... Maybe we should just leave them alone and let them brew the stupid potion... I know that to brew it they need a strand of hair from the person they're turning into. And the only Slytherins they could get hair from unnoticed are Crabbe and Goyle. If they're planning to talk to me anyway, then I could make sure they don't get in trouble."

Ed silently debated this in his head. "I guess we could..."

"So what's the plan for now? The way I see it, we can either look for the diary, or we could locate the chamber of secrets and maybe seal it... Or take out the basilisk or something..."

"Yeah, should we split it up? Or should we concentrate on one?"

"We're not getting anywhere with the retrieval of the diary, so let's look for the chamber."

"But we don't have any clues where that might be either." Ed stated.

For a moment there was silence in their room. Then Crabbe and Goyle came in. So they had to drop the subject for the day.

* * *

Friday passed smoothly, the Quidditch practice almost lasted until curfew, but they made it back on time. Neither Harry's, Hermione's nor Ron's voices could be heard through their hole, so Ed assumed they were either not there or went to bed already. Then the next morning, everyone was up quite early, excited about the match. Draco was really nervous; it was his first official match ever. The weather was hardly understanding in that respect, because it was cloudy and a few very dark and huge clouds could be seen.

It started to rain when they reached the pitch, before Ed left for the stands, Draco said: "I don't know, maybe it's just my nerves, but I have a very bad feeling about this match."

Ed nodded and replied: "Be careful of the Bludgers, they're the only things that could hurt you."

Draco nodded and left to get ready.

Ed went to the stands where he met Crabbe and Goyle, Hermione and Ron were sitting two rows in front of them. Ed sat down and crossed his arms, waiting for the game to start. When the Gryffindors came out lots of cheering could be heard, when the Slytherins came out, the cheering was almost drowned by boo's of the other three houses. The two teams met on the field, shook hands as was custom and then all the houses counted down and both teams shot into the air. By this time it had started to rain and vision was very bad. Ed first watched Draco, he seemed to be doing fine. Then he turned to Harry, who to his surprise was not doing so well. A Bludger seemed to be tailing him, Fred or George tried to knock the thing away, but it came right back. The other blond must also have noticed, because he flew quite close to the bludger a number of times trying to get its attention, but to no avail. It just kept tailing Harry. Ed wasn't too familiar with the Quidditch rules since he hadn't played for real before, but he was sure the Bludger wasn't suppose to act this way.

The Slytherins meanwhile were scoring for all their brooms were worth, they sure could handle the speed. The game had barely started and they were already leading sixty to none. Ed watched how Fred and George flew beside Harry, trying to knock the Bludger away, then one of them stopped, and looked like he was signaling something. Their team captain then called a time-out and the team descended to the ground, they stood close together and exchanged a few words. Up in the stands one row in front of Ed, Crabbe and Goyle were shouting loud boos. Madam Hooch then walked toward them, the captain said a few last words to the team and then they went back into the sky. This time, neither Fred nor George were watching Harry, they went to take care of the other Bludger, leaving Harry to do all kinds of strange moves in an attempt to avoid the Bludger.

"Hahahahahaha! Look at him! I bet he's practicing for a ballet performance!" Goyle shouted from in front of him, Ron turned around and looked angry, but he was unable to direct his anger at anyone, because in that moment the bludger hit Harry's arm.

Hermione gasped loudly, returning Ron's attention to the game.

Harry still held onto the broom with his other hand, although his expression was unreadable through the thick rain. Then all of a sudden he dashed toward Draco who quickly avoided. Harry then started hurtling to the ground, and landed with a sickening crack. Ed shot up and dashed to the pitch.

"Harry!" Ed reached him before anyone else.

Seeing that Harry was unconscious, he quickly checked his pulse and then touched his arm, which was bent at a strange angle. Sure enough, not only was it twisted, the bone was broken as well, but it hadn't penetrated his skin. Gently, Ed placed it back into the proper position.

"Ed?" Harry asked, still sounding a little dazed. "Did I win?" Harry asked and Ed motioned to the Snitch still clutched in his hand.

Harry's eyes followed and he smiled a bit, although the pain was clearly catching up with his groggy mind.

"Move aside, Elric!" Ed turned around to see Wood, who roughly pushed him aside.

The rest of the team hurried behind him. And then Lockhart approached.

"Step aside ladies and gents!"

"Oh no, not you..." Harry groaned.

"I think you must still be a bit confused because of the pain, here let me help you fix your arm."

"No, don't! I'd prefer to keep it this way..." Harry complained.

"Nonsense! Of course you don't. Now just lie back, I'll fix it in a moment. It's just a really simple spell I've used a million times before."

"No, please don't! I want to go to the hospital wing." Harry shouted.

But Lockhart just chuckled and then waved his wand. After pointing it at the injury, the arm suddenly went limp, as if there were no bones in it. A small Gryffindor with a camera started clicking away madly on it.

"Well, that can happen, but only very rarely. But you know Harry, the point is your bones are no longer broken and they're not hurting anymore! Now, Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, if you could just bring him up to the hospital wing, I'm sure madam Pomfrey will do the rest."

Ron scowled at him, but Hermione just silently supported Harry, when he tried standing up.

Ron followed and together they left the pitch.

Ed left the crowd of Gryffindors as well, he spotted Draco and the rest of the Slytherin team on the other side of the pitch and headed towards them.

"What the hell! The stupid golden piece of shit was floating two inches above your head and you didn't see it! You lousy piece of-"

"You can't do it any better!" Malfoy said, "How should I have seen it if it was above my head! My eyes are in front! Perhaps you're a monster that has his eyes on top of his head and his brain in his legs, that's why you couldn't score any faster!"

"Why you little-" Marcus Flint said growling.

"Look, even if Draco weren't on your team you would've lost, 'cause you would still be flying on your old brooms. And you must have dropped the Quaffle around twenty times this game, else you would have a lot more points. Stop trying to shift the blame, weakling." Ed interrupted.

The whole team fell silent.

"You coming or what?" He asked Draco.

The blond nodded and followed Ed back to the changing rooms, leaving the rest of the team standing in the rain.

Ed waited in silence outside for Draco to change up and then both of them walked back to the castle quietly.

About halfway there, Draco suddenly said: "You know I actually saw the Snitch."

"Why didn't you catch it?" Ed asked.

"I thought, Harry might come chasing after it and forget about the Bludger, it might have hit his head. So I didn't want to make any false moves and it wouldn't have been fair. I don't know what happened to that Bludger but I don't want to get my first success though a rogue ball."

Ed sighed. "You should have just caught it and ended the game, so Harry could get off his broom quickly. But what's done is done I guess."

"Yeah... I bet the others will be angry with me, I think we just lost our lead on the house cup."

"Oh yeah, we did..." Ed said, doing the math in his head quickly.

After dinner Ed went to the dorms to read the book that he snuck out of the library a while ago, that nameless one on Animagi. It had much more theory on the actual transforming and on the magic involved than Draco's book.

'The potion is vital, for if ye try to transform with a picture of the wrong animal in yer head, then the body and soul would not be aiming toward the same form, which could end you up in a twisted morphed shape.'

_'Much like a chimera...'_ Ed thought to himself while reading. He was determined to do it, and even horrible thoughts of Nina's death didn't persuade him otherwise. He was planning to try and make the potion in the winter holidays.

* * *

Which were approaching fast. The next day everyone was talking about how Colin Creevy, a first year Gryffindor had been petrified. This news skyrocketed the sales in Talismans and other such nonsense. Although it was calming down now, a few weeks after the incident, Ed assumed Colin Creevy was the annoying kid with the camera, because he wasn't seen since then. He was a little frustrated since they still had no leads on the whereabouts of the basilisk. One morning in the second week of December, McGonagall passed out the list of who would be staying at Hogwarts like last year. To Ed's surprise, Draco signed the list.

"My parents are kind of busy, and they'll be attending a Christmas party hosted by one of the other pureblood families, I forgot which one it was though. It's more of an adults' party, so I thought I'd stay at school this year to study. I need to catch up on quite a bit of work, Quidditch practice has been taking up too much time." Draco reasoned.

Ed however would be going home this year.

On the second last Thursday afternoon before the holidays, both Ed and Draco were happy that they hadn't sat beside Crabbe and Goyle. They had to brew a Swelling Solution, which was quite an easy potion. Ed had brewed his already and was going over the things he needed to pack before going back home, Draco was giving his potion a few last stirs just to be safe and Snape was sneering at Neville's potion when it happened. Harry, had taken out a Filibuster Firework behind Snape's back, touched it with his wand and lobbed it all the way into the middle of Goyle's barely passable Solution.

"Duck!" Ed called; he had coincidentally been staring in that direction and had seen what was going on.

Draco ducked quickly under the table and thus wasn't hit. Quite a lot of the potion hit Crabbe's face, because he was sitting right next to Goyle. It now looked like it was about to explode. Many of the Slytherin girls shrieked at the blots and bumps that were growing where the potion had hit their faces. Goyle covered his eyes with his hands; otherwise they'd be as big as his now enlarged troll-sized hands. The puffer-fish eyes that were hit swelled so much that most of them exploded with a loud 'POP' like balloons. Ed watched how Hermione snuck into Snape's office amidst the confusion.

"Silence! Silence!" Snape's voice thundered through the classroom, making all the shrieking and running around in panic stop. Now in a calmer voice, Snape continued: "Anyone who came into contact with the potion, come here for a Deflating Draft. The person who did this had better start praying, when I find out who it was..." Snape trailed off handing out the first dose of the draft.

After everyone had taken the antidote, Snape strode to Goyle's cauldron and fished up the remains of the firework. He swept his gaze across the room, which made quite a few students squirm as he turned to them. He stared at Harry for quite a while even after he ordered everyone to tidy up their cauldrons and tabletops. When the bell rang, the Gryffindors practically ran through the door at the same time, Snape watched all of them with a piercing look. Ed noticed Snape also gave him and especially thorough look when he was leaving. He hoped his barriers were enough to keep the professor out of his mind. Within the next week, Ed and Draco tried to tail Ginny without being seen. But she always managed to disappear somewhere. She didn't leave her stuff lying around either. They actually crossed her a few times and she glared at them every time. Ed was sure she would have liked to smack him across the face and kick Draco in his stomach. But every time Snape just appeared out of nowhere and said:

"Hurry along now, you don't want to be late for class, Weasley." Or some variation of that.

The last Thursday before the holidays, a note was pinned up on the notice board at the entrance hall. It said a Dueling Club would be started in light of the events that have been happening. Since they had nothing better to do, Ed and Draco decided to go and check it out. For this purpose, the great hall had been redecorated. The long tables had vanished and a golden stage stood against one wall. Most of the students seemed to have come and were excitedly holding they're wands and chatting with their friends. Lockhart appeared on the stage and many Slytherin's in their vicinity groaned, some even were about to leave, but they turned back around at the sight of Snape following behind Lockhart.

_'Snape... Has he been following me? I doubt he crossed us by coincident every time...'_ Ed thought to himself while he watched them walk across the stage.

"Gather round! Gather round!" Lockhart yelled with a booming voice. "Can you all see me? Can you all hear me! Excellent! Now you might be wondering what this is about. I feel that we're not getting very much practical experience from class and I do feel like I should share my expertise in dueling with you all. I believe there will be a time for every witch and wizard where they will need to defend themselves, like I have already done on many occasions- for more details you can check my books. Now before we begin, I'd like to introduce my assistant, Professor Snape. He tells me he has a tiny, itzy bit of experience in dueling and has agreed to help me give a demonstration before we start practicing. Now don't you worry, you'll still have your potions master once I'm done with him."

"It'd be good if Snape could incapacitate Lockhart for the rest of the year." Ed mumbled and Draco nodded his agreement.

Snape seemed to have similar thoughts, because his lips curled upwards making his face look very evil.

"As you can see, both of us are holding our wands in accepted combative positions. On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill of course." He told the quiet students with a smug smile.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

Lockhart swung his wand in a huge show-off motion and Snape with a small, quick and almost indistinguishable one. Through the smaller motion, Snape was much faster and shouted: "Expelliarmus!" before Lockhart was halfway through his wand movement. A jet of red light shot out of the wand and hit Lockhart square in the chest knocking the wand out of his hand and tossing him into the wall, where he then slid down, sprawled out on the floor. Ed cheered along with the other Slytherins; this was almost as good as getting back at the colonel for a short joke. Lockhart slowly stood up, holding the wall for balance.

"Well, there you have it! That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see... Well, enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like you could help me..." He said. The last part of that was said under influence of Snape's murderous glare.

"I don't think so," Ed and Draco heard Snape saying and spun towards his voice. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. You shall partner up with the famous Mr. Potter. And you miss Granger - you can partner Miss Bulstrode. Mr. Elric, please partner up with Mr. Zabini."

They split up and moved towards their partners. Zabini scowled at Ed.

"Why do I have to team up with you?" Zabini asked sneering at Ed.

Ed shrugged. "Maybe so you can finally teach me a lesson?" He offered not really meaning it.

Like hell he'd let Zabini beat him.

"Face your partners and bow!" Lockhart shouted from the sage.

Ed bowed only as low as Zabini, which meant a little tilt of the head. Both of them were completely focused.

"Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents, I repeat, only disarm them, we don't want any accidents!" The annoying one instructed and then started counting down: "One! Two! Three!"

Zabini already cast his spell on 'two', but Ed ducked and cast an 'Expelliarmus' of his own. Zabini avoided to the left and cast another spell Ed couldn't hear because everyone else around them was shouting things. Ed dodge rolled from his crouched position to the right and quickly pointed his wand at Zabini again. "Rictusempra!" Zabini barely avoided the spell and was then hit by Ed's 'Expelliarmus' which he casted just after the tickling charm. His wand flew out of his hand, but it flew up straight and he managed to catch it again when it hurtled back to the ground.

They were about to start another round when they heard Snape intervene in another pair's duel. "Finite Incantatem!"

Ed looked who had been interrupted. Not to his surprise, it was Harry and Draco. Around them Longbottom and a Hufflepuff, whose name Ed had not bothered to remember, lay on the floor covered in green smoke. Ron and another Gryffindor lay to Harry's other side. And right beside them Hermione and Bulstrode were wrestling on the floor. Hermione seemed to be in pain. Harry quickly ran over to them and pulled the chubby Slytherin girl off Hermione. Overall, the rest of the duels hadn't gone as well as the duel between Ed and Zabini. Lockhart walked around giving advice on how to treat the injuries.

"Good duel." Ed said to his partner.

Zabini only inclined his head a little, flicking his eyes away again right after.

"Oh dear..." Lockhart said. "I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells..." He glanced toward Snape who just glared at him and then turned away to help some students up. "Hmm... Since professor Snape is busy, I'll just ask one of you to help me... Ah yes! Mr. Zabini would you come up here?"

"No." Was Zabini's short and definitive answer. Lockhart was only taken aback for one moment, before he regained his composure.

"Okay... Hmm... Well then! Mr. Elric! Please come up here."

Ed groaned and promised himself to make quick work of the fraud. He walked up onto the stage, feeling most of the eyes on him. He got into position and waited for Lockhart to count down.

"Three, two, one!" Lockhart yelled casting a disarming spell at Ed.

Now, Ed could have simply sidestepped it, but since the whole practice of this was to block it he flicked his wand and calmly said: "Protego!"

The spell reflected Lockhart's red ball, sending it flying back towards him. Lockhart who wasn't expecting that threw himself to the floor and covered his head with his hands.

"Expelliarmus!" Ed shouted while pointing his wand at Lockhart.

Lockhart's wand flew out of his hand and soared through the sky to land neatly in Ed's outstretched fingers. The Slytherins cheered once more. Ed tossed Lockhart's wand to the floor, where it landed just in front of the professor's nose, and then hopped off the stage.

"Well... Uh... Yes, that was quite good..." He mumbled as he picked his wand up and slowly stood. "Well... Since that was all very fast, might I suggest we have another demonstration... AH! How about Mr. Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley?"

"That's quite a bad idea, if you're trying to avoid accidents professor." Snape stated, and all attention turned towards him. "Mr. Longbottom's second name might as well be devastation. Might I suggest another pair? Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter perhaps?"

Lockhart didn't bother arguing. "Excellent idea!"

And he motioned for the two of them to take their positions on the stage. Snape moved to Draco and whispered something, making the blond smirk.

"You scared?" Draco asked, teasingly.

"You wish." Harry returned with an almost Slytherin sneer.

"Three! Two! One!" Lockhart shouted.

Draco quickly flicked his wand and shouted: "Serpentsotia!"

Out of the tip of his wand a long black snake came flying. Its body landed on the floor with a loud thud as its tail left the tip of the wand. It looked around as the crowd backed away in screams and then directed its long fangs towards Harry: It was ready to strike. Harry stood motionless; clearly he was quite afraid and not sure what to do.

"Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it for you." Snape said already walking a little closer.

"Allow me!" Lockhart called from behind Harry and strode quickly toward the Snake.

He swung his wand in a big arc and then finally pointed it at the snake. This sent it flying high into the air, almost reaching the ceiling. It then tumbled downwards off the stage and onto the, now cleared, floor. It shook its head angrily and hissed furiously as it tried to get back its orientation after being flung up so high.

"Stupid humans, this is animal torture damnit!" The snake hissed loudly as it approached the crowd of frightened students. "Way out, way out... I'll force my way out if need be..." It mumbled to itself, and then slithered straight toward the boy Lockhart had called Finch-Fletchley, who was standing between the snake and the entrance.

"Leave him alone!" Ed heard and turned around to see that the hissing came from Harry.

_'He's a Parselmouth?'_ Ed asked himself. _'This might turn out looking quite horrible for him.'_

The snake sunk its head and curled up staring at Harry with big black docile eyes. It didn't say anymore, just sat there obediently. Harry grinned, but everyone else was frowning at him and even a few glares could be seen. When the boy saw this, he looked quite confused.

"What do you think you're playing at?!" Finch-Fletchley shouted, anger and fear evident in his voice.

Before he got an answer the Hufflepuff turned and ran out of the hall. Snape quietly flicked his wand at the snake, vanishing it in a black puff of smoke. Muttering filled the hall, but it was done so quietly that almost nothing could be heard. Harry stood there speechless, clearly not really knowing what to do.

Ron quietly stepped up to him and pulled him away by his arm. "Come on, move... Come on, Harry..." he urged.

Hermione joined them at the base of the stage.

As they walked towards the entrance, the crowd parted as if they were afraid of catching some dangerous disease.


	20. A Present from the Past?

A/N Thanks for all the reviews! I enjoy them as much as you enjoy the chapters, seriously.

And thanks to FantomoDrako for finding that mistake. I added a coma where there shouldn't have been one.

To Hina Kita: Yes Ed can speak parseltongue. It was only briefly mentioned in chapter 5 though.

And to everyone else out there: Do you think I should change the summary? I don't really have experience with summaries so I'm not sure. Any opinions are appreciated.

* * *

The next day, a terrible blizzard over night had lead to Herbology being canceled for everyone, as professor Sprout had to give the Mandrakes their winter clothes. She wouldn't let anyone help her because it was crucial the task be done thoroughly. Ed used that time to pack some stuff into his suit case and think of presents for some people. After their free period they had charms. Since it was soon Christmas, Flitwick wanted to show them how to enchant items to change colors.

"See, now wave your wand like so," He showed the movement, "picture the colors in your head and then-"

"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK! SLYTHERIN'S MONSTER IS ON THE LOOSE! RUN!" Peeves gleeful, but still panic laced voice resounded loudly from the corridor.

Pansy started shrieking and burst out of the classroom. Other Slytherins also ran out of the classroom, but only because they were eager to see who had been attacked. Pansy of course looked quite normal again once she was further down the corridor.

Ed somehow got pushed along with the tide and ended up outside in the hallway. Many other classes had come running as well. There, barely visible through the chaos of legs, lay that Hufflepuff kid, Finch-Fletchley. And right behind him floated Gryffindor's house ghost: The Nearly Headless Nick. Through the panicking crowd a loud explosion resounded silencing them, McGonagall had come with her class following right behind her. Everyone stopped their moving around and every pair of eyes was on the deputy Headmistress.

"Everyone back into the classrooms. Teachers stay here. I don't want anyone going anywhere."

The students did as they were told.

As Ed was being pushed back into the room, he saw a panting Hufflepuff arrive and say "Caught in the act!" very loudly, while pointing at Harry.

The Slytherins closed the classroom door and sat down, quietly reviewing homework or chatting a little or sitting around like idiots as in Crabbe and Goyle's case. There was muffled talking coming from the hallway, but Ed didn't want to make an enemy out of the other Slytherins so he had to stay put and act as if he weren't interested. Ever since he ran down to Harry to check his condition, he felt the others weren't quite so friendly with him anymore. But they left him alone, as usual.

* * *

In the next two days, everyone was avoiding Harry like the plague. Everyone except the Weasley twins, of course. They went out of their way to announce his walking through the corridors. Shouting: "Make way for the heir of Slytherin!" One time they asked him very loudly who his next target would be and another time one of them waved garlic at him as if trying to frighten him away.

Draco scowled each and every time he saw the display. Ed asked about it once and he received a muttered answer along the lines of: "Bloody Gryffindors are soiling Slytherins name. Not only that... This isn't a laughing matter, people might die, a damned basilisk is on the loose and they're just making fun of everything..." The rant went on and on, Ed almost wished he hadn't asked in the first place.

Nevertheless, the departure of the Hogwarts express arrived. Many students were going back this year, including Ed, who was sitting in a compartment by himself. A few seventh year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors tried to get him to sit with the other leaving Slytherins so they could have his compartment. His gold eyes gave them a death glare and they quickly scrammed to look for another compartment. He glared at a few first years who asked if they could occupy the remaining seats as well. The reason was that he was currently trying to figure out what he was missing. He'd had this feeling ever since the day of the Dueling Club.

_'Slytherin's heir, Chamber of Secrets, Basilisk... Argh what the hell... Something about that day's bothering me, but I just can't think of what!'_ Lost in thought, he stared out at the snowy scenery that the train was passing.

Watching the calm landscape run across his field of vision made a kind of nostalgic feeling wash over him, making him drift off. And then he found himself in front of the 'fake' gate again. He walked towards it, focused his energy into his palms and placed them on the hard, cold stone.

"Alohamora." He said and the gate complied.

It was much easier than before. The next thing he knew, he was back on a train, only this one did not have compartments. He was gazing at some notes in his hands, Al's hands, he noted belatedly as his mind cleared.

_'Al!'_ Al visually jumped and looked around.

_'Oh Ed! You're back! I've missed you! Nice to see you again, how have you been?'_

_'Not so good, I'll tell you about it later, how about you?'_

_'Well there's not much I can do for you since, this gate seems to be magical and not alchemical, so I thought I'd help Hawkeye search for Mustang while thinking of what I could do. She said she heard from Havoc who heard from his latest girlfriend who heard from her brother who heard from his best friend who heard from his wife who heard from her cousin that he saw Mustang somewhere in the north.'_ Ed blinked with his soul's eyes at the long list.

_'You know this could be a wild goose chase, Al.'_

_'Yeah, I know. But it's better than sitting around doing nothing, I'm not getting anywhere with that other gate. I have no idea what it needs to open up or what makes it appear except for sleep, but that doesn't actually help. Trying to open it physically with the method we've been using would result in opening the real gate, which would be quite bad. It's really frustrating, but I just have no information.'_ Al heaved a sigh after he was finished ranting. _'Alright brother, I'm done ranting. I never knew it felt so good to do that once in a while. So, what's going on, on your end?'_

_'Something's bugging me, but I don't know what. Ever since the day of the Dueling Club-'_

_'What Dueling Club, brother?'_

_'Well, that lousy Lockhart - don't say anything, Al. I know from experience that he's a fraud- organized a Dueling Club. So I went there with Draco and we learned the basics of Dueling from Snape and then Harry had to duel Draco and then he summoned a snake and then Harry spoke to the snake in parseltongue- What the hell Al! I just found out what I was missing! Parseltongue was Slytherin's signature ability! If he's monster is a basilisk and his heir is supposed to control it, he has to speak parseltongue! And to hide the beast somewhere only a parselmouth would find it, the key to the place has to be parseltongue! It all fits together now! Argh, why didn't I think of this sooner!'_ Ed ranted to himself, making Al chuckle.

It was just like the good old times, Ed's ranting that is. Suddenly Al yelped and gripped his head, bending over.

_'Al what's wro-'_ Ed tried to say, but images flashing past his mind's eye halted him mid-sentence. He could barely tell what was on those images because they vanished too fast. But he clearly recognized a few brown, red and gold shades. Then just as suddenly as they had come the images disappeared again. _'Al, are you alright?'_ Ed asked.

Al still held his head for a few moments but then released it, slowly sitting up straight again._ 'Ouch...'_ Al replied rubbing his forehead gently. _'I think... Brother, I... I think I remembered some things!'_

_'What did you remember?'_ Ed asked excitedly.

_'Wait... I think the images weren't in order, my mind is kind of confused. I need to sort this out... Hmm... I remember... I remember you cheating in a poker match on our way to central!'_

_'What?! Why'd you have to remember that! Argh....'_ Ed exclaimed.

There was a small peaceful silence between the two.

_'Oh yeah, Ed! When I was thinking about a way to return after crossing that gate thing, besides waking up, I was wondering... Magic uses words like commands, right? So, if you thought of crossing the gate as a spell, what if there was a command like 'return' or something similar to end the spell? What do you think?'_

_'Hmmm.... I could try. In Transfiguration, professor McGonagall uses the spell 'Finite Incantatem' to end a spell. Should I try now?'_ Ed asked trying to imagine how it had to be done.

_'Sure!'_

_'Alright, here goes nothing.'_ Ed focused on an image of his two hands and imagined pushing out energy from his body into them. When he was satisfied that the energy was stable, he imagined the energy shooting out of his palms and spreading all around him _'Finite Incantatem!'_ He shouted into Al's head.

At once he felt himself spiraling through the magical gate and back into the train, where he awoke with a start. _'It worked...'_ He thought, while looking out the window. The wild grassy landscape had left them and now the scenery was densely populated with both tall and short brick houses. They would be arriving soon, he knew. Lazily, he stretched his arms and then his legs.

_'I need to tell Draco about my discovery, but should I send an owl? But sending an owl would be risky, what if the ministry or someone else checks incoming mails? Would someone question where I got the information from? What if I leave out things that couldn't be discerned from books? But why would I be investigating the chamber of secrets anyway if I weren't in the situation I'm in?'_ Ed pondered this while the train started slowing down.

He sighed and grabbed his trunk from the rack and made his way out into the hallway where other students were eagerly waiting to get to the safety of their homes, away from the monster lurking in Hogwarts. He waited patiently as students pushed their way through, apparently afraid the train would not wait for them and head back to Hogwarts. Finally, Ed managed to squeeze himself out and immediately he saw Al senior waving his hand at him enthusiastically and Trisha was smiling sweetly up at him. Ed jumped down the train and ran towards them, careful not to fling his trunk into anyone on the way. Trisha gave him a big hug, when he reached them making him blush. _'I'm too old for this...'_ He thought, but it felt nice.

Al gave him a father-son like hug and then a pat on the shoulder. "How've you been, Ed?"

"I'm alright. Some strange things have been happening at school, but so far it's not too bad. How about you two?" Trisha's face looked very worried at that statement.

"You'll have to tell us all about it when we're back home. We've been fine as well, the ministry is the same as usual. Lots of work, but this year I don't have the Christmas shift, so I'll be at home on that day." They engaged into more idle chatter, which was really not one of Ed's strong points, as they headed out toward the alleyway they always used to apparate back to their house.

* * *

Edward lay on his bed tiredly and closed his eyes. At dinner after he managed to satisfy their curiosity on the events happening at the school, he asked them if he could go shopping some time, alone. He claimed it was to do Christmas shopping, which it was of course. But he also wanted to check out the Apothecary and anywhere else that rare potion ingredients might be found. He was somewhat glad that he was away from Hogwarts. The monster was becoming more and more active, so Ed was glad to have gotten away, at least for the time being. He would never admit to anyone other than himself that he was in fact scared. Scared, he could round the corner and then accidentally look the humongous snake in the eye. Scared, that Draco or Harry could fall victim to the monster. Scared, that he might never see Al again, or anyone else for that matter. The holidays would be a good time to think about what he could do. The next day, after an enjoyable breakfast, Ed was standing in front of the chimney. He was all dressed up and ready to go, but... he was standing in front of a chimney.

"What are we doing?" He asked Trisha finally.

She smiled at him and answered: "It must be strange if you haven't done it before. You're going by Floo Powder." Ed just stared at her, more confused than ever when she handed him an elegant pot filled to the brim with green powder. "Just take a fistful and throw it into the fire. Then step inside and say 'Diagon Alley' loudly and clearly. Make sure you speak up. Oh yes, it could be a little uncomfortable the first time, just like apparation."

"Oh..." was all he could say.

She took a small pouch and filled some of the powder into it and then put it in his coat pocket. "This is for your trip home. When you want to come back do the same in the Leaky Cauldron, but say 'The Knight's' instead."

Ed nodded and carefully grabbed as much powder as he could. He took a step closer to the fire and tossed the powder in. The flames eagerly ate it up and turned green on the spot. Then he tentatively put his hand in it. It didn't burn.

"Bye! See you later, mum." He said to her and then took a deep breath before stepping inside. "Diagon Alley!" He shouted.

While doing so he inhaled some of the ashes, but he held the cough in his throat, fearing that he might change his destination if he did cough. The world began spinning, making him dizzy. He flew past what must have been other people's chimneys, and the world continued spinning still. And then he felt like he was being kicked out of the system and he stumbled out at the Leaky Cauldron. He nearly fell over, but managed to grab hold of one of the tables. His head was still spinning so Ed continued to hold on for a while. Thank goodness it didn't take too long to pass.

_'I'm never going to go shopping on my own again...'_ He sighed.

Then he made his way over to the brick wall and pulled out his wand to tap the brick. He was still fascinated with the way the bricks rearranged themselves even though he'd seen it a few times by now. It was still early, but many shops were already open. He figured the day was still long, so he took his time browsing through some shops, trying to think of what to buy.

_'Maybe I should get Draco a pair of Quidditch gloves? And maybe a new Quaffle for Al the older? What about mum?'_

The first place he went to that he was planning to go to was the Apothecary, the Quidditch supplies store was further down the road, so he decided to check out the potions ingredients first. The shop clerk offered him a big book to flip through.

"You'll find all the ingredients that are sold nowadays and their prices. There are some that aren't sold anymore, either because they're dangerous or because they're too hard to collect." She had said the last part with a hint of sadness. When he looked at her strangely she quickly put up her hands and waved them in a denying fashion. "Oh no, no. Don't get me wrong, I just think it's sad that some of the species that give excellent potion's ingredients and dying off because of over-hunting. So we don't sell them anymore."

"Oh, okay. Thanks." Ed said, feeling strangely content that magic couldn't do everything. Most of the ingredients he needed weren't very expensive, but he realized that he wouldn't be getting everything he needed.

_'Antipodean Opaleye and Hungarian Horntail blood: Not sold anymore due to over-hunting and danger for hunters as well as dangerous properties.'_ He read.

_'Damn...'_ He thought and put the book back down with a sigh. He thanked the clerk once more before leaving the store. If he couldn't get the ingredients, then there was no choice. He couldn't make the potion, so he wouldn't be able to do any Animagi for at least a long time, until maybe he'd get a chance to hunt some of the beasts for himself. Although he doubted that time would ever come. He then walked over to Quality Quidditch Supplies and bought the pair of gloves and a new Quaffle.

"Could you wrap these, please?" He asked the clerk as kindly as he could.

The man at the counter just nodded at him, looking rather annoyed. While he wrapped it, Ed turned around to take a closer look at the store. Behind him he heard the clerk mumbling: "Can't people wrap things themselves nowadays? Sheesh... Just makes my job more troublesome..."

Ed rolled his eyes and turned back._ 'If you think it's so troublesome then get another job damnit...'_

He accepted the two wrapped up packages and smiled the kindest smile he could muster to the clerk, who still looked annoyed.

It was only around lunchtime when he found himself staring down Knockturn Alley.

_'I shouldn't go down there; it's not worth getting in trouble for.'_ Ed told himself and then finally turned away to look for a place to eat.

He ordered some shepherd's pie at a restaurant and thought of what to do next.

_'I still need to get mum's present and maybe check out some books to see if I can find out anything about the chamber of secrets.'_Just when he was about to leave, Elmar appeared out of nowhere. "Please allow Elmar to carry some of your luggage back, so you may continue shopping without having to carry so much around." She said while bowing. Ed, who was startled by the sudden appearance, just nodded his head and passed the bag with the presents to her. She eagerly grabbed it and with a soft cracking noise, she disappeared once more. He blinked at the abrupt coming and going of the elf, but eventually continued eating his pie.

After lunch he headed further down the street, there were many interesting things to see and he stopped at one of the shops that sold kitchen supplies. He went in, but in the end didn't buy anything, the items just didn't feel like anything to buy for Trisha. So he continued to check out the street, it was a huge place. It didn't make sense to Ed how the muggles couldn't see this place. He walked along lost in thought for a while, then he stopped realizing that less and less people were walking around here. He glanced around quickly, trying to see if this was one of those really bad places. But it wasn't, it looked normal, other than the fact that not many people were there. His gaze wandered over to the shop names and stopped on 'The Librazard'. He walked closer to it and peered inside, it looked dusty, but the sign on the door showed that it was in fact open. So, he walked in. The doorbell rang ominously in the silence. A short, skinny and elderly looking woman walked to the counter. She peered at him through huge spectacles.

"Why, welcome! I haven't had much business in... Forever! Take your time and look around, my books aren't that new, but they're for rent anyway."

"Okay, thanks." He replied, giving her a polite smile and then heading down the aisles of books.

They didn't seem to be sorted in any particular way. The clerk suddenly came over to him, just when he was about to get frustrated looking through all the books.

"Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"

"Umm... Well, yeah, books on Hogwarts."

She swiftly vanished between the columns of books and after a short moment appeared again with all sorts of old and dusty books. "Most of these have been around for at least twenty years." She placed the books on the floor beside him and stalked off somewhere to the back of the room.

By this time Ed felt a bit strange. This was supposedly a library, but no one ever came here. It didn't make sense to him, like much else in the wizarding world. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind for now and looked at the title of the books. He picked up the most promising of them, 'The Secrets of Hogwarts', and flipped to the table of contents.

'14. The Chamber of Secrets page 60' he read, so he flipped to that page.

The chance was high that he wouldn't actually find anything new. Along the sides of that page the words rubbish, useless and liar were scribbled. The first part was boring, it just stated the legend. The next part was better. The author had interpreted that the heir would have to be able to speak parseltongue, since that was one of Slytherin's unique abilities, just like he had. But it didn't say how. Then the next part of the book really caught his attention.

'The Chamber was supposedly opened just last year. During that time, the monster managed to kill one student, whose name is not to be stated in this book by request of the family.'

Immediately, Ed thought of Moaning Myrtle and according to Mrs. Malfoy, she was the only one to have died at Hogwarts.

"Like it?" Ed jumped as he heard the librarian's voice very close behind him. "You can keep it if you want; no one comes here anymore anyway."

"Sure... But shouldn't I pay you or something?" Ed asked out of politeness.

"Well, no... I'm just glad that you did come by, I haven't had anyone to talk to for a while."

"Okay, thanks..."

"Are you leaving already?"

"Yeah, I should get going, I still need to buy a present for my mum." Ed said glancing outside.

"Oh... Good luck with that. I'm sure she'll be happy with whatever you get for her though. Such a thoughtful young man..."

"Thanks, bye."

He left the store and headed back down the road, looking at the shop signs to see if they might have something that he could get for her. He stopped just in front of a small toy shop. Deciding to just take a quick look, he went inside. The whole inside was filled with various toys of all shapes and sizes. Some of them were evidently wizarding ones, others looked like they could be found in normal shops as well. Then he found a small box with clay.

'Easier to mold than ever! Doesn't dry up while molding!' The box proclaimed.

A memory of small metal animals and his mother, made him buy the box. He told himself to mold it soon, and then maybe bake it while Trisha was at work. She still had work the next day, but after that she was free for the holiday. After browsing around a bit more he found a set of non-smudging chalk, which he bought as well.

* * *

It was proving harder than he thought to mold the clay. Furthermore, his brain kept telling him _'that's not what a horse looks like!'_, but he was determined to make exactly what he made so many years ago, albeit from a different material, since he couldn't freely use alchemy in this world without causing trouble to his foster parents. He started remolding it once more when someone knocked on the door. He quickly went to it and only allowed it to open a crack wide. It was Trisha.

"Ed, you should go to bed soon. It's getting late, what are you still doing up?"

"Umm... Nothing, I was just reading and forgot the time." He gave her a grin, but she looked at him suspiciously.

"Okay, I'm not buying that excuse, no matter how believable it seems. I'll leave you alone though. Good night."

He heaved a sigh as he heard her footsteps become fainter. He got back to the table and started one more time on the figure. It must have been a few hours later when he was finally satisfied with his work. He peeped out of his room and listened for a short while, making sure that the coast was clear. He carefully took his figure and walked to the chimney. Once there though, he was caught by none other than Elmar.

"What does the young master think he's doing? He should be in bed!" She whispered.

"Uh... Yeah, but I need to get this fired and wrapped up."

The house-elf blinked at the figure, but shook her head. "Young master should not play with fire this late at night. He might burn himself! Leave it to Elmar, she will do it for you and make sure that the mistress does not see it."

Ed was a little startled that the elf would know who it was for, but couldn't protest as she deftly took it from his hands and started a fire at the chimney.

"Young master should go to bed, or else the mistress and master will know that you've been a bad boy."

Ed wanted to scream that he wasn't a kid anymore, but quickly held his tongue and nodded. For a moment, he nearly forgot he now was an 11 year old again. He walked to the doorway, but stopped there to watch Elmar work for a while. She seemed to be so focused that she didn't even notice that he was still standing there. He made his way back to his room as quietly as possible to get some sleep; else his mom would get angry at him for staying up late although she told him not to.

He got into bed and briefly thought of visiting Al again, but remembered what he said about his mind not being able to rest properly while on the other side. He was pretty tired, so he let it be for today. 'Perhaps I should visit on Christmas?' Ed asked himself before falling asleep.

* * *

"Pssst! Young master Edward! Pssst! Wake up!" Ed opened his eyes groggily to come face to face with Elmar's huge green eyes. "Elmar has baked the mistress' present for you!" She held it up to him as if she were handing him a crown. "Would you like Elmar to get some wrapping paper for you?" She asked as Ed blinked the sleep out of his eyes.

"Thanks. Yeah, that'd be good. What time is it?"

"It's just after sunrise!" She squeaked just before placing the present into Ed's hands and running off to get the wrapping paper and ribbons.

Ed took his time to admire the figure in his hands. It looked nearly the same as the one he had made with alchemy, but there were a few little details here and there that were a little off. It still looked strange to his mind, but he was very satisfied with it. Elmar came back in. Under one of her arms were various rolls of wrapping paper of different designs and in the other was a carton. She set all of them on the floor, beckoning with her hand for Ed to come over. He got out of bed and sat down on the floor beside her.

"Here are the different wrapping papers Elmar could find, young master." Then she turned herself towards the carton and opened it. "And here are the Ribbons. Does the young master need Elmar's help to wrap the present?"

"No, I think I'll be fine. Thank you."

"Young master should call if he needs help. Elmar will come." She then stood up and bowed before leaving the room with a spring to her step.

Ed unrolled a little bit of all the paper to see which one he liked best. After choosing one he picked out a matching ribbon and put all the other things aside. In the box he also found a scissors and some sticky tape. Now his only problem was how he was going to tape the wrapping paper around the irregular form of the present. After a moment of thought, he opened his door and leaned out. His golden eyes looked up and down the hallway.

"Elmar? Are you there?"

At once the small form of the elf came running up a near-by staircase.

"What can Elmar do for you, young master?"

"Are there any spare cardboard pieces in the house? I thought it would be better if a made a small box for it..."

"Elmar will go and search. Please be patient." Not long after, she returned with a large piece of cardboard, just as he requested.

"Thanks." He said and took it.

He started measuring the horse, then took a quill from his table and roughly drew in the lines of the box. They were of course perfectly straight. He'd had so much practice drawing straight lines and circles while training with their teacher and even though he didn't have to draw them later anymore, he could still do it. After drawing in the lines, he took the scissors and started cutting the shape out. It would have been easier with a knife, but he somehow doubted Elmar would have given him a knife. When he separated the piece he needed from the rest of the box, he scratched the places he would have to fold. He folded the sides of the boxes up and taped them together. He looked up to get the horse when he noticed Elmar watching him attentively. She quickly noticed him looking at her and raised her hands up in defense.

"Sir, please don't take it badly. Elmar was merely very interested in the young master's work. Elmar was fascinated! Elmar has never seen such a thing being made before. Please forgive Elmar, sir."

"I'll forgive you if you stop calling me 'young master' and 'sir'. It's really strange to me and I just can't get used to it."

"Yes, yes, sir, anything-"

"You did it again."

She stared at him with wide eyes. "Ahh!!! Elmar is so sorry!" She picked up the scissors and used the handle to smack her head.

This really took Ed aback. "Stop it!" He commanded, after a moment of shock. The elf stopped the handle just an inch away from her head. "What do you think you're doing?" Ed almost shouted, but caught himself.

"Elmar.... Elmar was just punishing herself, because she disobeyed... Umm..."

"Ed, just call me Ed."

"Yes, umm... Ed. Elmar was just punishing herself because she disobeyed... Ed."

"Don't do it anymore. It's strange."

"Yes... Ed. Elmar will keep that in mind. Elmar thinks this strange too."

"What?" Ed asked.

"Calling mas- Ed by his name. Elmar feels honored and strange."


	21. Revelations?

A/N Reviews rule. No questions there.

About the summary thing, I'll be taking Psykojinx's advice (at least probably). I'll try and come out with a few different ones and then you can tell me which one you think is the best. I'll try and post them on the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist. It would be cool if I did though.

* * *

After learning that House-elves generally beat upon themselves when they did mistakes, Ed made Elmar swear not to do it or at least not because of him. She promised him to try and then Ed wrapped up the present. He had to admit to himself that it wasn't the most nicely wrapped present, but it wasn't too bad. He took the gifts and walked down to the living room where the tree stood. There weren't any presents there yet, but now his presents helped decorate the room. Ed took in the scene, but something felt like it was missing. It didn't take him long to figure out what.

_'Shit... I didn't get a present for Elmar... What do people give elves for Christmas anyway?'_

Then he quietly made his way back to his room. Elmar was busy cleaning up some dust on his table with a duster.

"Elmar, listen..." She turned her head towards him and her huge eyes looked at him inquisitively. "I forgot to buy you a present and I'm not really sure what people give elves-" Her eyes had grown steadily wider during his sentence and then she burst into tears.

"Ahhhh! Young Ed doesn't have to get a present for Elmar! But how thoughtful of him, to even think about little Elmar! But Elmar is a servant youn... err... Ed! Elmar is so grateful that he has thought of her!" The elf threw herself on the floor and hugged his leg, which he tried to pull away gently. "Elmar will serve Ed forever and ever and ever-"

"Okay, okay, could you please let go?" Ed tried as politely as possible.

She let go and blew her nose on her shirt or rather rags. Then she sniffed a bit with a big shaky smile on her face.

"Elmar has heard this many times on Christmas: 'It's the thought that counts.' Elmar thanks Ed very much."

She bowed very deeply and then quickly picked up the duster and ran out of the room. He figured he should let her settle her emotions on her own. Christmas would be in two days and he had no idea what to do 'till then. It was pretty cold outside, so flying was out of the question.

_'Reading books? I guess it's my only choice._' Ed sighed and opened up his trunk.

He shuffled through the humongous amount of books in there and finally picked up that very detailed book on magical creatures. After finding out the monster was a basilisk, he had borrowed the book from the library.

He asked the librarian about the book and she told him: "It's been at the school for about 10 years already, but Dumbledore has kept it in his office. It was quite a rare find, not many of them are around, apparently the author only allowed a handful of them to be sold. Don't know why Dumbledore thinks it's wise to let students terrorize it. If you ask me it's better for it to be kept in his office even if no one could read it that way. Kids these days just don't know how to take care of things."

He took the book and frowned at it. And once again he found himself examining every inch of the book's cover. And then he carefully opened it and examined all the pages. Sometime during his task, a knock on the door made him look up.

"Good morning, Ed. I didn't know if you were up. I just wanted to ask you if there was anything you wanted for Christmas. If you don't have anything in mind, then I'll think of something." Trisha said smiling at him.

"Good morning, mom. No I don't really have anything in mind."

"Alright, I have to go to the ministry to pick up something I left there. After that I'll go to Diagon Alley. Take care of yourself. I won't be back too late." She walked in and kissed his forehead then left.

Ed watched her go and then stared at the spot he last saw her, lost in thought. But then he broke out of his reverie and turned his attention back to the book in his hands. _'Argh, something is just bothering me about this!'_ He shut the book and angrily glared at the author's name. _'Neimeo Tilg. I don't know this person, but he's starting to get on my nerves. Damnit, I need to get my mind on something else.'_ Then he got up, leaving the book on the bed and went out of his room. He walked down the stairs and was just wondering what to do, when Al nearly jumped on him and started dragging him towards the front door.

"What're you doing!?" Ed shouted at him.

"You look too glum, Ed! Come on, it's Christmas! Let's go and play in the snow!" With that he grabbed Ed's coat, hat and gloves putting them on for him haphazardly.

Ed could barely arrange his hat properly before he was pulled once more, this time outside. There Al let go of him and picked up some snow. He quickly formed it into a ball and threw it at Ed. Ed avoided it with ease and tossed one back. Before he knew it, snow balls were flying back and forth very quickly. Ed had to admit that Alphonse was a seasoned snowball-thrower. Ed wasn't that good, but the teen felt that he was getting the hang of it. After playing in the snow for so long, Alphonse called a house-elf to prepare some hot tea (without milk of course) for them, but they continued their feud 'till their drinks arrived. Both of them then sat on the wall Al had built for his defense sipping the hot drinks contentedly.

"Let's build a snowman." Ed suddenly suggested.

"Really? You think we should? How about a contest? Both of us could build different snow sculptures. And when Trisha gets back, we'll ask her to tell us which one is better."

"Good idea." Ed replied.

They set their cups aside after finishing and immediately started their work. Or at least Alphonse did. Ed was wondering what he should do. And then it clicked in his head, and he too got started. Time passed too quickly in Ed's opinion and then it was getting dark already. Neither of them was even close to being done, so they postponed the evaluation for the next day. When they told Trisha she agreed to choose a winner, but said she would be joining them the next day. And she did. All three woke up at the crack of dawn the next day to build their snow sculptures after eating a very quick breakfast. Alphonse was building what Ed thought could be described as a traditional snowman. Trisha's looked like the beginnings of a dragon. And Ed, well he wasn't quite satisfied with how it was turning out. The arms were all wrong, or at least he thought so. And the head was also off in his opinion. And of course the snow was not too easy to work with, especially because this was one of the first times that he worked with his hands to build something in a very long time. Back in his world he would have just pictured an array and what he wanted to make, then calculate how much material he needed, clapped his hands and presto! Before him would stand a snowman. He was finding it very hard to make the pictures in his mind reality. After redoing the head a couple of times he was finally convinced it looked right now and it was also time to eat lunch. The house elves having predicted that they would be outside, prepared for their lunch to be taken out on a makeshift table. All three were grateful, because then they could enjoy the beautiful snowy landscape. That way they also wouldn't have to dress up again.

"Yours is looking pretty good, Ed." Alphonse remarked while looking over their work.

"Thanks. But I really don't know if I should say the same about yours. There's really nothing too special about it." Ed said grinning towards the other man.

"Hmm... True. I'll think of something don't worry. But Trisha's isn't looking too bad as well, don't you think?"

"Yeah, can't argue that. It looks like it could come alive any moment now." Ed said grinning.

"Thanks, for the compliment. I've been to quite a few dragon reserves when I was younger. They really are breathtaking creatures. It's a shame that they're confined to the reserves, but I can't argue that they're dangerous."

With full stomachs they then set out to continue they're work. At around five in the afternoon they were done. All three of them stood back to compare the three pieces of art.

"Yours definitely isn't going to win, dear." Trisha said after a while of silent contemplation.

Ed nodded his agreement.

Alphonse's snowman turned out to have a round body with a round head on it. It also had two twigs for hands and a carrot nose. Its head sported two horns and a grinning face, complete with ears and eyebrows. On its body four stones were used as buttons.

"Yeah, I thought so too. I've never been good at art." He commented. His gaze moved over to Ed's and Trisha's works. "It's really hard to decide which of yours is the winning one."

"True, that's one detailed suit of armor. The way you were working on the details, it made me have the feeling that you were trying to recreate something." Trisha said to Ed.

There stood what looked like the armor Ed had stuck his little brother's soul to all those years ago. Everything from the face to the chest plate to the fingers and feet were replicated with lots of care. Although it wasn't perfect because snow just didn't really allow that kind of precision. Ed had to smile when he looked at his work. He had even put a sleeping cat on the shoulder. The snow statue wasn't nearly as tall as the original; Ed would have never been able to work on the top otherwise. The evening sun made the snow shimmer brilliantly.

_'You have no idea...'_ He thought. "Thanks, yeah I was. I saw this suit of armor somewhere when I was younger. Your dragon isn't anything to laugh about either though."

Another long moment of indecision passed.

"Let's just pick out the loser and proclaim the other two as winners." Trisha finally said.

"Hey! That's not fair."

"But then we could be done with this and get in the house. I'm starting to freeze." Ed said with chattering teeth.

"Alright, alright! Okay, I lose..." But he said those words with a happy smile on his face. All of them were just happy about doing something together.

When they were back in the living room, Ed noticed the number of presents had doubled.

Trisha seemed to have notice his inquisitive look, because she said: "I bought one of them for you yesterday, but you'll have to wait 'till tomorrow to open it. The other one..."

"Is from me." Alphonse finished.

"When did you put it there? I don't remember seeing it yesterday." Ed asked.

"I put it there after you went to bed. You were so tired last night from all the playing in the snow that you practically just dropped on your bed and fell asleep. And I guess you didn't notice it this morning because you were too focused on your task."

"Oh..." Ed blushed a bit at that information, he really had been tired yesterday evening.

"Hmm... We should take pictures of it don't you think? Although, maybe we it would probably be better to wait until tomorrow. It's pretty dark already; the lighting wouldn't be too good."

The other two agreed with her.

They ate dinner talking about random things, but it was enjoyable. After that Ed went to his room and sent his owl off with Draco's present.

* * *

The next morning, breakfast passed very quickly again. Surprisingly, Alphonse was the one who hurried the two to finish their breakfast.

_'He's really playful. Quite like Al... Although our carefree time together was only short. He might have been quite like this Al, if we'd have had a happy childhood.'_ Ed sighed inwardly at that thought.

Deep down somewhere, he still carried guilt in his heart. He had been the one to convince Al to revive their mother. He was the one who stuck him in a cold suit of armor. He was the one who got them involved in state affairs. Even though he now knew that Al didn't blame him the guilt wouldn't leave him. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind for a moment though. He didn't want to make either of the two adults he lived with now to get worried over him. He smiled when Alphonse picked up two presents and gave them to Ed. He picked up the other two and gave one to Trisha.

"So, who wants to open presents first?" He asked a wide smile on his face. "Oh, come on you two!" He then continued when they merely exchanged glances. "It's Christmas and it's like both of you are giving off this gloomy expression! What's the matter? I'm not daft you know. I can see that you two and I as well for that matter have a lot of things on our minds, but can't we at least be a little carefree on this day of the year?"

Both of them stood there and blinked their eyes in surprise.

"Aww... Was it that obvious?" Trisha asked sighing. "That's why you're my husband. You always know when to lighten the mood. I'll go first then." She smiled and sat down on the sofa so she could open her present more comfortably.

Ed and Alphonse sat beside her. Ed was nervous and Alphonse looked highly interested as both watched her slowly look for the place the wrapping was taped at and carefully pry it off. She managed to take off the wrapping without tearing it. By that time Ed couldn't look anymore. He started thinking it might have been a bad idea to give that as a present. He heard a gasp and he cringed slightly.

"Umm... I know it's not that nice... but-"

"Are you kidding, Ed? This is wonderful!" She exclaimed full of joy.

He turned his head back just in time to see her place the horse gently on the table and then give him a big hug, which made him blush fiercely. She let him go after another moment and he just had to stare at her face. She was smiling, but he detected something else. Was it guilt? Or sadness? Or something completely different?

"Is everything alright?" He asked concernedly.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just so happy. This was made by you wasn't it? It must have been difficult." She took it and walked over to their chimney and searched for just the right spot before placing it down and admiring it one more time. "This is a good place isn't it? Alright Ed, would you like to go next?"

Ed nodded his reply.

He had two presents: one was flat and rectangular and the other one was cubical-shaped. He decided to open the rectangular one first. He tried not to tear the paper, but it wasn't going too well.

"It's okay. Just tear it." Alphonse said and Trisha nodded.

After a moment's hesitation in which he debated whether or not he should make himself look like a brute, he tore the paper apart. Underneath the sheet of paper was a book with a plain black cover.

_'A notebook.'_ Ed mused.

"Thanks." He said, it came out rather shyer than he had intended it to.

"I just observed that you would observe a lot of things and write them down in that other notebook of yours. I know it looks a bit like the one you have, but you haven't seen all yet." Trisha told him. "When you write your name on the name tag inside the book only you will be able to open it. So you don't ever have to worry about anyone looking at your notes. And it's also shrinkable, so you can bring it wherever you want. I'm not sure how small it can go, but I'm certain it'll get quite small."

"Oh wow. I never thought it could do so many things." Ed replied in honest astonishment. "I'll put it to good use."

Then he moved to the other present he had received from Alphonse.

"Why don't you open your present first, Al?" Ed asked suddenly.

Alphonse raised his eyebrows. "You're not saying you don't want it, right?"

"Of course not! I'm just saying that I want to have a little time to appreciate mom's present first!" Ed puffed at the older man.

He chuckled at Ed's behavior. "Alright, alright." He then ripped the wrapping around his present off cleanly and his jaw dropped open at its contents. "How did you know I've wanted a new Quaffle!" He said turning to Ed, who merely shrugged and smiled in an I-just-knew-it fashion. "I've wanted a new one for quite some time now." He said while feeling the Quaffle's even surface. "I've just never had enough motivation to drag myself down to Quality Quidditch Supplies. I hate the shop clerk." He added with a little distaste. "Thanks so much, Ed. Let's play again when the weather gets warmer."

"Sure." Ed replied. _'This family is real. It's not a fake family, even though they look like my real family. It's another family, with different people. They aren't shadows of the people I've known.'_ that realization made Ed feel much better and it lifted a weight from his chest he hadn't known was there. But it also made him feel guilty to some extent. _'When I first saw them, I only thought of my real mother and brother. Now I'm starting to think of them as different people. I've been chasing my old family and I had no idea another one was here welcoming me with open arms. And I kept comparing them. I'm so stupid.'_

The sound of Alphonse's voice brought him away from his thoughts. "Go on, Ed. Open your present."

Ed didn't need to be asked twice. He picked it up and opened it much the same way as he had opened the first. Inside it was a metal box, which looked like something made for jewelry, if he was being completely honest with himself. Alphonse was still smiling at him, so he opened it. Inside it, which wasn't really a surprise, was a necklace with a sort of locket thing. A single green jewel glowed strongly on its cover. Ed was about to ask Al if this was some kind of joke, but Trisha was faster.

"You didn't!"

"Oh yes, I did. Ed's a bright lad, I'm sure he could use it. It's really horrible when you want to try out spells and you just can't because of the ministry, you know?"

Ed looked between the two and felt he was missing something.

"But you do realize that this is not exactly legal, right?"

"Yes, I do. Else I wouldn't have had to get it from the black market. But you also know that it doesn't state anywhere in the law that this is illegal, right? I don't even think the ministry knows about these kinds of things."

"Would someone tell me what this is about?" Ed interjected.

"Ed, this necklace has a magic placed on it that makes your magic untraceable. It's not actually designed for children, more like for fugitives on the run, but it'll work just as well. Don't worry about looking stupid or something along those lines. It'll turn invisible and untouchable by others and only you can take it off once you put it on. I'm sure you can understand that the ministry wouldn't want these things getting to the legal market if they knew it existed."

He quickly put it on and watched as it became invisible, or at least translucent to him. Alphonse was nodding in awe, so obviously he couldn't see it anymore. Ed was speechless for a while. He really didn't know what to say to that. "Thanks so much! That's just what I need; now I can start practicing my magic." He beamed at Alphonse who chuckled.

"Just don't show it off to anyone and get me in trouble for it."

* * *

The rest of that Christmas day was wonderful for Ed. He didn't have much more on his mind than enjoying himself. That of course was something that he didn't do very often. After his mom died the brothers had been constantly training and researching to find a way to bring her back, and after that they had constantly searched for a way to restore themselves. Not to mention the mess he found himself in now: Involved in a war he could have ignored if he had wanted to. But he figured it was mostly because he had friends on this side and that he had a hope of somehow returning home with the use of magic that he didn't just abandon the magical world to Dumbledore's manipulation. Such peaceful times never lasted long in the life of Edward Elric though. The next day, he felt that something was bothering the two adults that had been quite cheerful the day before. Halfway through breakfast, he couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, what's up?" He asked, after a loud sigh.

Ed looked both of them into their eyes. Something was definitely amiss. Both adults looked to one another for what to say.

"Well, you see Ed..." Alphonse began, but Trisha cut him off.

"There's something I need to tell you before we continue. I've grown very attached to you and no matter what you choose to do I'll support you. Please remember that. These are my genuine feelings."

Ed was confused and not quite sure what this was all about, but he nodded his head slowly.

Trisha sighed, muttering to herself: "Where to start?" Alphonse looked down at his bowl of cereals, but his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. Ed focused back on Trisha and patiently waited for her to elaborate. "Basically, I'm feeling very guilty right now..."

_'I thought I was the one who's supposed to be guilty.'_ He didn't say it out loud though, instead he changed his expression into an even more confused one. "Why?" He asked.

Trisha's gaze indicated that she was struggling for the right words. "I-I... The first time I had anything to do with you, it was for the Dark Lord's purposes."

At this Ed had to blink. He almost thought everything he had experienced with them was faked, that they maybe had just acted that way to use him. But then he remembered what she said just before her last statement. Just because of those words, he found he was able to relax somewhat again to listen to what else she had to say.

"Like I said, I feel very guilty for it now. I'm sorry." She paused searching for words again. "It all started with something at my job. I picked up somewhat dark magical signals. I couldn't trace them for a long time. But then you did it again and at that time I was able to trace your magic to the orphanage. He told me to watch you and well, I thought this was the best way. I now realize that was something I shouldn't have done. It was wrong of me, even if it were any other person, even an adult, I was wrong. I shouldn't even have thought of using you like that..."

Ed took in the information calmly and suppressed the urge to rub the bridge of his nose. "It's alright. I understand that all people make mistakes. I forgive you." He said. And suddenly he felt so old, as if he were talking to someone of his age and not a parent figure.

"But now you're involved in all of his dark plans and I feel so scared for you. I really don't want you to get hurt." Her eyes still held that guilty look but also a fair amount of fear, Ed could see it clearly now, the other emotion he wasn't sure of.

"That's where you're wrong, Trisha." Both of them abruptly looked up at Alphonse's ever smiling face.

"What? What do you mean?" She asked more than a little shocked.

"I mean that Voldemort isn't overtly evil. He's just been manipulated like most of the 'important' wizarding folk." At that he just received another incredulous look and a cringe from the name.

Ed took the whole thing in stride, he knew about Voldemort, but he was quite surprised that Al senior knew about it. "He told you?" Ed asked interrupting both of them.

"No, he didn't, although I suppose he told you."

"Then how did you know?" Ed questioned further.

The other gave him a little smile. "Actually, I'm surprised other people haven't noticed. During Voldemort's supposed terror reign, one Mr. Cornelius Fudge was minister of magic. Needless to say he was and still is quite incompetent in war business. I was pretty frustrated with him at the time. It was near the beginning of the war, and I was quite neutral. Young as I was, I went to check up who the idiots were who appointed him as minister. One name I wasn't prepared to come across was Dumbledore's. After checking up on more of the annoying higher-ups I realized that nearly all of them had one main supporter. Yep, you guessed right. It was Dumbledore. And then I asked myself: Dumbledore is to blame for all the corrupt and useless higher-ups, so who's the good guy? Dumbledore or the guy fighting him? Not to mention that I always thought of him as a very manipulative person even during my school years. What motivation he could have to destroy the wizarding world from the inside I don't know. But after joining the Death Eaters and watching all the things they did, there's one thing I can say for sure: Voldemort is at best a misunderstood person, at worst... Probably a completely misunderstood person." Alphonse then took a very deep breath. "Phew... Talking so much sure makes you thirsty. One more thing though, I also feel guilty. After I realized you were Hohenheim's son, I was all for the idea that you help out. I kind of also only thought about what you could do, not so much about what you wanted to do."

Ed nodded his head slowly again. "I'm glad you told me. If I found out on my own, I might not have been able to forgive you." He whispered.

"Thank you, Ed. This means a lot to us and me especially." Trisha finally said.

"But are you okay with this?" Ed asked. "I mean you just found out that Al doesn't support the dark arts and the elimination of muggles and all that stuff? What about you? Are you ready to just change like that?"

Trisha hesitated a bit before answering. "When I joined Voldemort, I was young and naive, add that to my pureblood heritage where prejudice isn't uncommon at all. I won't deny that I thought it was the right thing to do, but after joining the other Death Eaters I did change my mind. The problem was that I was scared of what would happen if I left them. I was scared for my life and later also for Al's." She glanced over at him with a weak smile. "I've never received direct orders from him before you came along. I was shocked when he came here to hide and asked me to watch underage magic with more attention than usual and told me to tell him if anything strange happened. And then before he left he told me to keep a very close eye on you. So that's what I did. I had no idea what he expected from you. So, yes, I'm fine with this information. In fact I feel loads better. But I want to ask you about something... I told you about how I found you. Would you mind telling me what you did? It was obviously some kind of wandless magic, since you did not have a wand at the time. And it felt dark, darker than you'd expect even from some grown wizards. Were you even aware of what you were doing?"

It was Ed's turn to be at a loss for what to say. _'Reveal to them an art they wouldn't be able to understand? Or make up instant excuses?'_ He really had the choice; she had even made a plausible way out for him. He sighed and started rubbing the bridge of his nose contemplating what to say.

"It's alright if you don't want to tell us." He heard Alphonse's voice say.

"No, it's okay. I was aware of what I was doing." After another pause in which he was trying to simplify his whole situation, he continued. "What I did was Alchemy. It's not like the Alchemy Nicholas Flamel and Dumbledore are famous for. It's different, I can't really explain it, it just is. Here let me show you." He fished around in his pocket for a moment, pulling out a piece of chalk. A quick basic circle on an empty silver plate and a touch to it later, a bright blue light flashed: the sign of a successful transmutation. This was done so fast, that neither adult could get a good look at the array. The light faded leaving a block of solid silver where the plate previously stood.

Both adults gasped.

"And this isn't magic?" Trisha asked after a moment of admiring the product.

"No, it's not. Alchemy is a science, it's a muggle thing. As far as I know, anyone can learn it, but to actually do such a transmutation, you'd have to know all the elements involved and have their precise calculations as well as an array to channel the energy appropriately depending on what substances you are using and what you are turning it into. Otherwise you might get a rebound, and that's not a very pretty thing. I used it at the orphanage when I was alone in my room. I was just trying out some arrays. I didn't know its energy was like dark magic." He hoped he had explained it complicated enough so they wouldn't try to learn it. Who knew what crazy wizards would do with Alchemy if the knowledge spread?

"I see... But Ed, this whole thing sounds so incredibly complicated. Where in the world would you have learned all this?" Alphonse piped in, finally managing to contain his astonishment.

"My dad taught it to me. He was adamant that I learn it." Ed lied without hesitation, as if it really had been that way. He did feel bad for lying to them after they had been so honest with him, but it was to protect them, himself and Alchemy.

"Can you do it slower? Or just show us again?"

"I can't really do it that slowly. I'll try."

Of course they wouldn't really gain much by watching the transmutation slowly. Once again he picked up the chalk and drew a mini circle on the block. It was so small, his finger covered it completely. The blue light flashed again, this time though it wasn't as strong, but it lasted much longer. Ed found he had to actively force it to slow down and that took a lot of energy out of him. He could literally feel it seeping out of his finger. Trisha watched as if she had just lost herself to the beautiful blue light and Alphonse was coming steadily closer to get a better look. And then just like that the plate was in its normal condition once more.


	22. Joined Forces?

B/N: Thanks for all the reviews! They really help motivate Autzulfrost!

She's really tired at the moment and didn't have the time to think up possible summaries, because of exams and stuff. Hopefully she'll have them by the next update… (Though I doubt it XP)

* * *

The topic of Alchemy wasn't brought up often throughout the rest of the holidays, something which Ed was glad about. He didn't think it was alright to teach people on this side of the gate alchemy when they already had magic. It might destroy the balance between the worlds. The weather did not change and it continued snowing, so they had plenty of snow. On New Year's Eve, he used his alchemy to transmute the snow into a covered sitting area. They sat there and launched Fillibuster Fireworks into the sky. Now it was time to return to school. Ed found himself walking through the barrier casually now. Trisha couldn't make it because of some important meeting, so only Al accompanied him. But he too had to get going soon; he was due for a business trip.

"Alright, enjoy your trip and don't forget to write." Ed nodded and then headed for the train.

There were a lot of other people boarding the train as well, so he had to wait before he could get on. Luckily for him, he found an empty compartment. He stashed his things away and lay down on the bench. Last night, he hadn't slept too much. He was writing down some theories he and his brother had found about what they had dubbed 'the Magic Plane'. He wrote all the stuff into his notebook that he got for Christmas and then it shrunk, so that he could put it in the locket on his magical necklace. The train soon pulled out of the station and headed back to Hogwarts.

_'Wonder if Draco managed to deal with them alright...'_ He thought as the rumbling of the train lulled him to sleep.

He only managed to wake up again when the conductor announced that they would be arriving soon. Groaning, he forced himself to get up and dress into the robes once more.

"Why can't they just let us dress however we want?" He mumbled.

The train then came to a stop and all the students filed out and then back into carriages. It was the second time he was seeing real ones, but the Thestrals still made the hair on his back stand up. He tried not to look at the Thestral so he looked out at the moon instead for the entire trip, so it was a surprise to him when he noticed that he was alone.

_'Did a rumor, of me scaring those other students off on the train before Christmas, start?'_

Ed then followed the crowd back into the Great Hall. Those who had stayed behind for Christmas were already there.

"Hi, Draco. How were your holidays?"

"They were alright. I'll tell you about it later, I'm pretty hungry right now."

Ed glanced over to the Gryffindor table and noticed that Hermione was missing. Draco looked at what he was looking at and mouthed 'later' once more, before digging into the food.

* * *

Back in their own room, Ed was unpacking his books and toothbrush and Draco was telling him what was happening.

"They still think I'm the heir of Slytherin. I managed to talk about some nonsense for almost an hour. Good thing they wasted quite a bit of time searching for our common room. I don't think I would have been able to whip up another subject. Oh yeah, about Hermione, I think something must have gone wrong with her potion, because only Harry and Ron came. At least didn't see her."

Ed turned around to him.

"Hermione and making mistakes with potions? I doubt it."

"I didn't mean brewing mistakes. Of course she wouldn't make mistakes like those. The potion must have been fine, since Harry and Ron were fine. I think maybe she didn't get the correct strand of hair. She might have gotten a Ravenclaw's or something."

"But that wouldn't explain why she didn't come to dinner? Surely, by then she would have transformed back."

"Oh... Then maybe it was animal hair?"

"Hmm... True."

"And how about you? Had fun back home?"

"Err... Yeah. Listen, I read in an old book," Ed pulled out the book in question and handed it to his friend. "That the chamber has been opened before. And that story you told me about? That Myrtle was the only one who ever died at Hogwarts?" Draco nodded slowly. "The book says someone died that last time the chamber was open. So it has to be her. We could ask her about her death, she might tell us how exactly she died." Draco took in the information.

After a while he said: "We could try, but we can't be certain that she knows anything at all. She might have just been walking down a random corridor when the monster attacked her. Not to mention, some ghosts don't like people asking about their deaths. But I'd say we should try, it's our only lead so far."

"Right... Didn't think of that." Ed answered, throwing himself onto the bed.

A long silence descended upon them. Neither boy knew what to say.

Then finally Draco spoke again. "Oh yeah, they moved the next Quidditch game to an earlier date. I have no idea why though."

"Who's playing?" Ed asked.

"Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff."

"When?"

"I think it was Saturday in a week. Let me see... The 16th of January."

* * *

In the next two weeks leading up to the Quidditch match, they failed to visit Myrtle yet again, because every time they passed that corridor or a place from which they could see the corridor, Filch was scurrying around, so they couldn't possibly just go into a girl's bathroom like it was nobody's business. The Slytherin duo also got wind of rumors stating that Hermione had been petrified. But neither Harry nor Ron seemed to be overly concerned, so they knew these rumors were false. But nevertheless, there usually was some truth to these sorts of things, namely that Hermione was in the Hospital Wing and the other two Gryffindors visited her every evening. Although Harry's visiting time was short because he needed to practice for the Quidditch match, which was to be held this Saturday. Ed and Draco decided to bring their wands along to stop a rogue Bludger should it act up again, but the only problem was that they didn't know if their spell would hit; Bludgers moved incredibly fast.

After breakfast they headed down the hall towards the entrance to get out to the Quidditch pitch. The body of students was loud, but the voice he heard was even more so.

"Kill... Kill... This time... I'll tear... and rip..." Ed stopped walking, frozen to the spot.

_'There it was again. That voice...'_ He thought, students behind him pushed, so he had no choice but to continue walking.

Up at the stands, Ed pulled Draco aside. "I heard it again. That voice..."

"Wait... So that voice you heard when you were sneaking back from the library..." Draco cut in.

"That was the Basilisk!" Both of them whispered at the same time.

"It must have been quite close, if not I wouldn't have heard it through all the talking."

"Yeah, but if it was that close, then I'm sure some people must have seen it."

"What if... What if it was in the walls?" Ed suddenly concluded.

"In the walls?" Draco asked a little confused.

"I just thought of it... Do you know how the water goes to the taps when you turn them on?"

"Well, yeah they go through..." Draco paused mid-sentence and gasped.

"Exactly. Its form would be ideal to sneak through those pipes."

At that moment, a series of loud cheers and boos could be heard: the teams had just entered the field. Gryffindor's captain flew around the pitch to warm-up, provoking more cheering in the process. The game was about to start, when everyone noticed professor McGonagall walking up to the center of the field with what looked like a megaphone in hand.

"The match is canceled." She declared for all to hear. The shouts of frustration were evident, but she continued undeterred. "All students must go back to their respective common rooms immediately. Your Heads of Houses will give you further information. I repeat, all students are to go back now."

Students all around them groaned and complained as they stood up and slowly made their way back to the castle. Ed managed to catch a glimpse of McGonagall approaching Harry on the field. When they were back on the ground, he watched Ron join the two. Draco noticed too.

"Hey come on, let's go and see what's going on."

But Ed had to shake his head. "We can't, Snape'll know if we're missing. You because, well, you are the son of Lucius Malfoy who everyone knows was a former Death Eater. And me... Because he's been keeping an eye on me. I just now it. Dumbledore must have ordered him to."

The pale-blond Slytherin understood, but still looked at the threesome walking away with a hint of longing to satisfy his curiosity. The march back to the common room was slow and the halls were filled with the student's complaints. The portraits seemed deathly silent though and the Basilisk could not be heard. In the common room, they waited for quite a while before professor Snape arrived. He swept inside, his gaze instantly falling on Draco and then very quickly moving on to Ed who was looking at some seventh years fight for a packet of Every Flavor Beans. The professor gaze then wandered over all of his students.

"I want to have absolute silence in here while I explain the situation." The room fell silent and everyone stopped moving, all eyes were on Snape. "There has been another attack, a double attack if I might add. New rules have been implemented for each student's safety and I strongly suggest you follow them." His gaze wandered across the silent body of students once more. His hand moved to pull out a roll of parchment from the inside of his robes. "All students will return to their House common rooms by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. All other evening activities are canceled." No one complained. "You may also want to note that however much you see yourself as a possible victim, if the attacks continue, the school will close down. If you have any information that might be useful, it would be wise to consider sharing them with your teachers. That is all. Have a good day."

Snape didn't seem too happy about the whole thing, but he wasn't overtly frustrated as well. Instead, he just looked a little annoyed. The man then left the common room, which had remained silent the entire time.

Sunday was boring as hell, because no one was allowed out of the common room. Snape was nowhere to be seen either, so everyone was quite bored. Some ranted about how it didn't really matter if a few muggle-borns died; it wasn't a great loss to them anyway. Others, as in Crabbe and Goyle were drooling around. The rest of the previous day had mostly been spent doing homework, so most of the Slytherins didn't have anything to do now and were either reading their textbooks for the umpteenth time or were playing chess or Exploding Snap. Ed was no different, so he was flipping through that Magical Bestiary again while lying on his bed. After examining the information on the Basilisk again he almost couldn't keep his eyes open and he just fell asleep.

Ed dreamt about a lot of strange things, during his nap. One of them was Mustang dressing up as a clown and selling balloons. The picture melted away and then there was a very tall Pinako.

_'Damn mini hag...'_ Ed thought.

Once again the picture melted away and then there was Hohenheim with a beard that touched the floor and a grin from ear to ear.

_'Wait... Since when does he grin like that? Okay this is definitely a dream...'_

Ed blinked and sat up. He was still on his bed.

"Thanks a lot for disturbing my nap, Hohen-" Ed was grumbling, but he stopped in the middle of his sentence.

He picked up the book again.

_'Neimeo Tilg?'_

He quickly scribbled Hohenheim of Light on a piece of scrap parchment and canceled out all the 'Hs', and then he rearranged the letters. Sure enough, after he got rid of the 'of' as well, the letters of the two names matched. He smacked his head for not thinking of this earlier. As another proof he had the short text on the author.

_'How very much like him to disappear like that...'_

He went through the text slowly again. Now he knew what had disturbed him about the writing.

_'It's all a code. But why would he write a book like that in code where everyone would have access to it? He couldn't have been leaving a message for me, it would never have been sure that I would even see this book or even associate it with him.'_

Ed got up and searched his trunk for some spare paper he had hastily made during the holidays, just in case. He also took out a pen and then started deciphering the book. What seemed like a few seconds later to him, he heard a voice nearby.

"Hey, Ed! Are you listening? Ed!"

Ed looked up from his intensive work to look Draco in the face. He blinked at him a little confused. "Yeah...?" He answered slowly.

The other boy sighed. "I guess you weren't listening. I don't even understand how you can work on something for such a long time. You've been here like that for hours already. Look, professor Snape hovered dinner down to our common room. So if you want any you better hurry."

"Okay, I'll be up in a little while. I need to finish this little bit before I lose the thread."

"Alright, but hurry up or else Crabbe and Goyle are going to gobble everything up."

Draco left to get his own dinner and Ed quickly scribbled down a few more things before following.

* * *

On Monday Snape marched them all up to the great hall to have breakfast. Almost everyone was still sleepy as professor Snape had wanted to be early, saying that he didn't have time to babysit them the whole day. Ed was quite surprised when his owl Attra brought him a note. It read:

'I really, really need your help. Could you meet me in the toilet on the third floor during third period? Please? Could you come alone, please?'

In the corner the author had put his name: Harry. Golden eyes scanned the Gryffindor table to see Harry fidgeting around and Ron looking pale and distraught. Ed discreetly let Draco read the note. He nodded.

"Alright." He answered simply.

After their second period ended, professor Flitwick was leading them back to their dormitories.

"Professor, I need to use the toilet." Ed said when they passed the third floor toilet.

"Well alright... We'll wait-"

"I think I'll take a while..." Ed quickly interrupted with a sheepish smile on his face, turning rather red in the process. _'Why couldn't I think of a better excuse?'_

The professor nodded. "But wait here until I'm back, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir." Ed said quickly before dashing into the toilet. Ed closed the door and listened to the footsteps.

"Is that you, Ed?" Harry's voice called.

Ed turned to see Ron and Harry's heads peeking out from a stall. "Yeah, it's me. What did you need me for?"

Suddenly Ron threw himself to the floor. "Please, please, please! You've got to help us! Hermione's been attacked! Without her we have no chance of solving this mystery on our own and the whole school is going to be attacked and everyone is going to turn to stone! You're our only hope! I'm sorry for hitting Malfoy! And I'm sorry for whatever else I said about you! Please, please, please!" He begged.

Ed took a step back from Ron who was inching closer to him on his knees. "Hold your horses and explain this to me slowly, will you?"

Harry sighed. "You know how a monster is attacking everyone, right? On Halloween after we left the death day party, I heard a voice and then I tried to follow it. That's how we got to Mrs. Norris. I think it might have been the voice of the attacker, because I heard it again on Saturday. We've decided that we need to find the monster and kill it. Or else so many students will get petrified and the school might close." Harry explained. "Ed, I know Hermione didn't trust you, but I do. Will you help us?"

Ed took a deep breath and then looked intently into Harry's eyes. "Answer these questions first. Have you considered telling the teachers that you heard a strange voice on most of the occasions where people were attacked?"

"I... I don't really trust adults... What if... you know what if they're the ones petrifying people? I just don't think a student could be doing this..." Harry stuttered.

"Haven't you considered that I could be the heir?"

"Yes, we have... But you couldn't have been... You were sitting right behind me on the day of the match. You couldn't have attacked anyone... I think." This time Ron answered.

"One more question," Ed said turning to Harry. "Where and who did we hide from on the first day that we met?"

Harry blinked but answered nonetheless. "We were hiding from my cousin and we hid in the storage room, I think."

Ed nodded his head. "Alright, I'll help you."

Both Harry and Ron looked immensely relieved.

"But why did you have to ask that dumb question?" Ron asked.

"To confirm that you both are really who you claim to be." Ed stated.

"What? But who else could we be other than us?" Ron asked again.

Ed looked at him and raised his eyebrow. "For all I know you could have been Crabbe and Goyle." Ron exchanged glances with Harry. Before either of them could ask any questions Ed continued. "It's probably better that you didn't tell the teachers, I don't trust them either, but for other reasons. I also think that we should just get rid of the monster by ourselves, so I've been looking for information as well and I'm only willing to pass them to you, if you continue to keep it from the teachers." Both of them agreed so Ed continued. "I want both of you to keep quiet and listen; we don't have too much time. Flitwick will be coming to get me quite soon. From what I could figure out until now, the monster is a basilisk. Beside the fact that its fangs are highly poisonous, gazing directly into its eyes will kill people. But if you happen to see them through, say a mirror, you would only be petrified. So considering the amount of attacks I'd say we've been pretty lucky so far, but I don't think it'll stay that way for much longer. Now you might argue that such a monster wouldn't be able to get around undetected in the castle and I've come up with a theory for that. My theory would be that the basilisk has been traveling via the water pipes. This would mean that Slytherin's secret chamber would be connected to the water pipes and it's highly likely that the chamber is connected to one of the bathrooms."

He hadn't told Draco yet of his theory, because he had just thought of it, their location at that moment being a bathroom. Ed paused to further sort his thoughts. "I've further concluded in the holidays that the chamber has been opened before, precisely fifty years ago, which also happens to be the time where Voldemort attended Hogwarts. At that time a girl who is now known as Moaning Myrtle was killed." The other two gasped.

"So we just have to ask her about it-"

"Which would be quite difficult considering the fact that we're not supposed to be walking around without a teacher." Ed finished for them.

Their elated faces fell again.

Harry suddenly had an idea. "What if we take my dad's invisibility cloak? We could go after curfew and ask her. But then we'd have to go down to your common room..."

Ed shook his head. "It's a good idea and it would be too risky if you came to get me." Harry and Ron nodded eagerly. "We'll ask her tonight and then we could mail the information to you." Harry said, but Ed shook his head again. "Too risky; if someone happens to track the mail, for example the person who is controlling the basilisk, and then he'd definitely target us next. I suggest we meet up again tomorrow. In the bathroom on the ground floor at dinner time maybe?"

Harry and Ron only had time to agree before all three heard professor Flitwick's voice. Harry and Ron went back into the toilet stall and grabbed something which they pulled over their heads.

_'That must be the invisibility cloak.'_ Ed thought seeing them vanish.

"Mr. Elric? Are you still here?"

"Yes, sir. I'm still here!" Ed shouted and quickly turned on the tap to let some water run. He then shut it again and went out.

Flitwick nodded at him. "I'm glad you didn't try to run somewhere. It must be kind of disturbing to have teachers leading you everywhere. I'd be frustrated, to tell you the truth. But we just have no choice considering the situation." He said sounding quite serious.

Ed nodded and just followed him. His thoughts were elsewhere. He had quickly sneaked a peak into Harry's head to confirm a suspicion he had, about why Harry was with the Dursleys who treated him horribly.

After returning to the dungeons, Ed went to tell Draco about the meeting and his theory.

"I'd like to help, but I can't. I wouldn't know what to do if my father found out. Oh and speaking of my father... He wrote me a letter saying that he's got Dumbledore removed and Hagrid taken to Azkaban temporarily."

"Dumbledore should be going there as well. It probably means we'll be getting him back though after we clear up the mess with the basilisk."

Draco nodded. "I hope father won't take it too badly. It would be best if no one found out and the basilisk just disappears."

"Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do." Ed paused then asked: "You think I did the right thing? I mean not telling them who the culprit is?"

"Hmm... Yeah, at least for now. It might be good to tell them some other time. You have to be sure that they trust you before you tell them."

* * *

The next day Ed sneaked out of the Great Hall and quickly went to the toilet. Harry and Ron weren't there yet, so he had to wait. A little bit later the two Gryffindors came in under the cloak again.

"Have you heard? Hagrid was taken to Azkaban and Dumbledore was suspended yesterday!" Ron said quite shocked.

"Yeah, I've heard. All the more reason to get rid of the basilisk. So, how did your visit to Myrtle go?"

Harry frowned. "She wouldn't tell us anything. She was really depressed, even before we went there, so she refused to talk to us."

"Did you even try asking her?"

"We couldn't. She always interrupted us and started screaming around."

"Let's try again tonight. I'll come along this time." Ed said.

"You think she'll listen to you?" Ron asked a bit skeptically.

"No, I'm just saying she might be in a better mood tonight."

Ron looked like he still wanted to argue, but he was interrupted by McGonagall's voice. "All students must return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."

"What? Another attack! Oh no... What should we do? Go back to our dormitories?" Ron asked panicking.

"Come on let's see what this is about." Harry said motioning to his cloak.

Ed agreed, so all three slipped under the magical cloth and headed in the direction of the staff room. McGonagall had just entered before them, leaving the door wide open for the teachers who were now hurrying in. The three of them moved to a corner and didn't move. McGonagall looked pale and the rest of the teachers were either confused or had grim looks about them.

"It was to happen sooner or later, but I never thought it would happen so soon. A student has been taken into the chamber."

All the teacher gasped. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth and professor Snape was gripping the back of his chair very tightly.

"Are you certain?" He asked.

The head of Gryffindor nodded. "Slytherin's heir has written it on the wall just below the first message.'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.'"

Professor Flitwick burst into tears and sobbed into his lap.

After a moment of hesitation Madam Hooch asked: "Who? Who was taken?"

"Ginny Weasley." Professor McGonagall said, close to tears as well.

"We should send all the students home tomorrow." Snape suggested.

"Yes, all Heads of Houses should inform the students of this, tell them to get packed and ready to leave. The Hogwarts express will bring them back first thing tomorrow. The others will help to prevent anymore attacks till their departure."

Just when the teachers were getting ready to leave, the door burst open. Ron almost yelped, but Ed managed to clamp his hand over Ron's mouth preventing any sound from escaping.

"I'm sorry! I just dozed off! Now what's going on? Why the grim faces?" Lockhart who had just entered asked cheerfully.

Professor Snape stood up and walked over to him, wearing a sort of evil smirk. "Ah yes! Just the man we need. A girl has been kidnapped by the monster, Gilderoy. She was taken into the chamber of secrets. Your moment to shine has come." He said rather sarcastically.

"Oh yes! The perfect man! You've been boasting about how you knew where the chamber was all along, haven't you? I'm sure you wouldn't mind going down there and fetching the girl?" Professor Sprout said, taking professor Snape's side.

"I... Well... Umm..." Lockhart started, his face contorted into somewhat of a fearful expression.

Flitwick managed to stop his tears for a moment to add: "Didn't you tell me that you knew what exactly was in the chamber?"

"Well... I-"

"I'm certain you were telling me just last night that you were sorry you didn't get to take the monster on before Hagrid was arrested." Lockhart had gone extremely pale at this point of time. "It's settled then. We'll leave the monster to you, Gilderoy. We'll make sure no one gets in your way. Tonight would be an excellent time, yes. You'll have it all to yourself." McGonagall decided and shot him somewhat of an evil smirk, but the effect was tarnished by the tears that were still trying to leave her eyes.

"Oh... Umm... Alright, I- I'll just be in my office, preparing for tonight then..." He said and then quickly ran out of the room.

"Good luck and good riddance. Heads of houses should leave now. Everyone else, please patrol the hallways and make sure any students that are still lingering around are sent to their dormitories."

Everyone nodded and stood up to leave. The three students waited until the footsteps could not be heard anymore before taking off the cloak.

"Oh no, no, no... Not Ginny... Is there even a chance she'll survive? He's going to fight the basilisk all on his own!" Ron gasped.

"I really doubt it; he's too much of a coward. But we have to stop him. He won't be of any use against a basilisk and he'd just be another pointless victim." Ed explained.

"But what do we do? Just go to his office and tell him not to go and fight the basilisk? What if he tells another teacher or something?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, that's what we'll do. One of us has to stay behind to watch him. But we can't get caught on the way to his office. They'd send us straight to our dormitories and then we won't get the chance to save Ron's sister."

Ron stopped his wailing and nodded. His face was contorted in agony.

_'He really loves her.'_ Ed thought to himself.

They got together and slipped under the cloak once more.


	23. The End?

A/N Thanks for the reviews! I'm really glad that chapter 21 turned out good, 'cause I really didn't think I could write happy stuff, I've never done it before.

To clear up some questions that have been brought up thanks to the chapter 22 and 21:

mrawgirl09: Yes, Ed can still transmute by clapping his hands, he was just demonstrating.

WhyDoICareAnymore: I admit Snape might have said it the way you suggested, but he is talking to the students of his house. So I just thought he'd at least be a little kinder. None of them really pissed him off, but he _was_ annoyed so he did say it rather coldly.

FantomoDrako: Yes, Hermione did not find the book, since she was still in the hospital wing at the time (the Polyjuice Potion's effects still haven't completely worn off). And I think if Harry and Ron had found the note, they wouldn't have asked for help, because they wouldn't be so completely clueless.

sorry I forgot/was too tired to think up summaries last week. Anyway, SaphiraIce put up a poll on our profile, so go check it out if you have free time. It would be really great if you could help me pick one. Thanks in advance.

Oh, and SaphiraIce is away all next week for ski camp and I'm a little busy too, so there's an extremely tiny chance, that I won't be updating next week.

Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter, nor Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

It took them longer than expected to reach Lockhart's office. Every time a teacher approached they had to stop and wait or back away as quietly as possible and take a different route, which there weren't too many of, of course. Eventually they did make it to his office, which was unusually noisy. The hallway was deserted, so Harry took off the invisibility cloak and tucked it into one of his pockets. Ron meanwhile knocked on the door. The activity within the room stopped and a moment later the door opened a tiny bit, so they could see an eye looking at them through the crack.

"Oh, Mr. Potter, Mr. Elric and Mr. Weasley... What can I do for you?" He asked in a small voice.

"We have to tell you something. Please let us in." Harry replied.

"Umm... Well... you see..."

"It's about the chamber." Ron blurted out.

"Err... Well..."

"Just let us in for God's sake." Ed cut in.

"Well... Alright..." Lockhart said and let them in.

The room was very bare, some paintings and other random stuff were thrown into an open trunk and another closed trunk stood nearby. Ron looked disbelieving.

"You were just going to abandon my sister?!" He cried.

"Well... you can't really expect me to handle such a monster! Nothing of this sort was in the job description!" He defended.

"But you wrote all those books-" Harry pitched in, but he was interrupted by Ed.

"Harry, he didn't actually do the stuff described in the books. I'll bet most of the stuff was either complete rubbish or credit taken for another person's deed."

Harry looked shocked. He hadn't thought that Lockhart was a complete fraud. "You mean you just took credit from other people's hard work?!"

"Yes, yes. He's quite right. I didn't do all those things, but my books wouldn't have gotten so famous if people didn't believe that I did them. You think people would have bought the book if instead of my brilliant face the face of an ugly old warlock was on the cover? No, I guessed not. And anyway it wasn't as easy as it might seem to you now. I had to put in a lot of time and effort to track these people down and ask them exactly how they did it and then I had to charm they're memories so they wouldn't tell anyone that they were the ones who did it. Now-"

Lockhart was just about to pull out his wand, but Harry caught the movement and was much faster at drawing his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" He yelled.

Lockhart's wand flew straight out of his hand and through the window shattering the glass in the process. There was a brief moment in which Lockhart stood there quite shocked, but then he fell to his knees and clutched his heart. Ron quickly ran over to him, fearing that they might have hurt another person or teacher for that matter. Harry lowered his wand as well and Ed put it past Lockhart to cast wandless magic. But the moment Ron reached Lockhart, said man swung his arm upwards making Ron stagger back a step. In that brief moment of confusion, their professor stuck his hand into Ron's pocket, successfully managing to pull out the boy's sellotaped wand. It all happened in the blink of an eye, after which Harry had his wand pointed back at Lockhart who had Ron's wand pointed at Ron and Ed had both his fists raised towards Lockhart, but neither teen could do anything for fear that Lockhart might attack Ron.

"Ha! I outsmarted you! I must say, even though I might not have been the one to do all the things described in the books, I am capable of doing one thing. Something I pride myself in doing actually. Now Harry, I'd like you to put your wand down, else I might have to hurt your friend here." Harry slowly bent down and put his wand on the floor after a moment of hesitation. "Now that you know all my secrets, I'll have to erase your memory. I'm so sorry boys, but you were just a little too worried. I shall tell everyone of how you went insane because of the death of poor Ginerva Weasley."

Harry cast a quick glance at Ed who just shrugged. Lockhart didn't seem to see their quick exchange and proceeded to cast his spell on Harry.

"Obliviate!" He yelled while waving the wand high above his head.

The three teens stood and watched with a sense of déjà vu. The light from the spell shot out half way up until the broken part of the wand. There it changed directions and sped back towards Lockhart at full force. The glowing light left Lockhart no escape routes and hit him in his stomach so hard, that he flew back and crashed on top of his desk and then slid off the polished tabletop. They waited for a moment unsure of what to do. Ron apparently thought better of checking up on the professor this time. Out of the blue, Lockhart sat bolt upright, his head peeking up over the top of the desk. He looked around and blinked confusedly at them.

"Where am I?" He asked.

They were quite speechless at that and just stared at him for a while. The professor looked around and blinked further at the room.

"Who am I?" He asked after a while.

"Blimey, I guess we're lucky we weren't hit by that." Ron said looking utterly stunned. "I'll stay back and watch him. Err... Good luck, Harry, Ed. Please save my sister, I'm counting on you!"

Harry and Ed nodded and then Harry picked up his wand again and sped off towards Moaning Myrtle's toilet under the invisibility cloak.

"What do you want?" Myrtle asked upon seeing them enter.

"We came here to ask how you died, Myrtle. Would you mind telling us?" Ed asked.

She blinked and then put her hands to her face as if she were blushing, although it was impossible to tell since she was quite translucent and single-colored.

"Ohhhhhh! No one's ever asked me this before. Let's see. It happened right here in this very toilet..." She said drifting off in a creepy tone.

_'So the chamber is here.'_ Ed thought, but just to please the ghost, he kept still and listened to her story.

"Of course I remember it well; one of those idiots had insulted me again, so I came here to hide. And then while I was crying in this locked stall, I heard someone come into the bathroom and speak a strange language. The language didn't really bother me, but what did was that it was without doubt, a boy speaking. So I was going to come out here to tell him to use his own toilet and then when I came out..." She paused again to emphasize her point. "I died." Harry blinked at her.

"How?" He asked.

Ed assumed he knew, so he was also just pleasing her.

"I don't know. I just remember seeing these large, yellow eyes and then I sort of collapsed. The next thing I know, I was floating around like this. Of course I took this chance to get back at the idiots. I made sure that they were sorry they insulted my glasses!"

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" Ed asked after another moment, taking her out of her reverie.

"Hmmm... Oh? Around there somewhere." She pointed lazily to the sinks.

"Alright, thanks." Harry said.

She flashed them a smile and then went back down through her toilet. Both of them moved cautiously towards the sinks and then slowly scanned every inch of it.

"Over here!" Harry called.

Ed came over and inspected the snake engraving on the toilet tap.

"What do we do now?" The Gryffindor asked.

Ed closed his eyes for a brief moment and thought back to the times he'd talked to snakes. "Open." He hissed at the tap.

Harry blinked astonished at Ed. "Don't ask me how I can do it."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked.

"You never asked." Ed replied, as he stared at the big gap opening up before them.

"Should we jump?" Harry asked.

"There's no choice if we're going to save the Weasley girl."

"Ginny." Harry corrected before jumping down as first.

Ed waited a bit before following to give Harry time to move away from the hole. The pipe must have extended quite a few thousand feet beneath the ground; the slide seemed to last forever. Finally the pipe evened out and he flew out of it and ended with a loud thud. Ed got up and brushed off his clothes. The tunnel they'd landed in was dark and damp. Harry was also looking around now.

"Let's squint our eyes while we walk. And remember to go as quietly as possible, we don't want to miss any movements or sounds."

Harry nodded and both of them walked carefully and slowly though the cave-like expanse. After walking a few feet, Harry just couldn't help but open his eyes widely.

He gasped and whispered: "Look!" Ed turned his head to what Harry was pointing at, only to stare at what seemed like a large snake shedding, around it were the remains of many small critters.

"Come on, Harry. We don't want Ginny to look like those."

Harry shuddered and continued walking quickly, only giving the critters one last good look before continuing on.

"I need to tell you something, Harry. I know who the person is who was trying to kill the students." Ed said after a little while. Harry looked at him and Ed was sure he was about to ask why he never told anyone, but Ed silenced him with his hand. "Look, I know this is going to be hard to believe so I just want you to listen and you can't tell Ron or Hermione or anyone else." Harry nodded, so Ed continued: "The person who was doing all this is Voldemort's younger self... Wait listen to me, I'm not done yet. I know you might have some problems believing this, but Voldemort isn't the one who killed your parents, it was Dumbledore." Harry's face clearly showed disbelief. "Dumbledore manipulates people; you have to be careful around him. He manipulated Voldemort in his younger years, that's why he turned out somewhat evil, but he realized this himself and that's why he's trying to bring down Dumbledore. I don't really know what the headmaster's goals are, but they definitely aren't good... But teen Voldemort was evil, so he put part of himself in a diary that he used during school. If I saw correctly, Mr. Malfoy put it in Ginny's cauldron. Voldemort asked me to destroy the diary if I came upon it." Ed trailed off not really sure how to continue, he also wasn't sure of Harry's reaction.

"I don't know what to think..." Harry started slowly. "But at least I know, you're convinced that what you said is the truth. You've never lied to me in that tone before." Ed blinked he hadn't even noticed what tone he was speaking in. "But I can't just accept this. I mean everyone says that Dumbledore is the most powerful and most respected wizard. And he's the one who gave me an escape from the Dursleys-"

"He was the one that put you with them. You can ask Hagrid."

"Oh... But he couldn't have known..." Was all Harry could say, before Ed stopped him.

They had reached a large stone wall. Engraved in it were two entwined snakes with glowing green eyes.

"You can still turn around if you want to." Ed stated calmly.

Harry gulped, but answered: "No way, I've come this far. I can't turn back anymore."

Both of them looked at each other and quickly nodded.

"Open." Harry commanded and the stone wall obeyed.

The stone plates split, neatly separating the serpents in the middle, and rolled out of sight. Both boys braced themselves before tentatively walking inside. A few steps inside, they stopped and listened to the sounds around them. Water was dripping, showing that it was pretty wet in the room and that something must have recently splashed water around, which now dripped from whatever was in the room. No other sounds could be heard, either the basilisk was just not moving or perhaps it was just waiting for them to open their eyes and look up. Harry too didn't hear anything, but he didn't think the snake might be waiting for his next action. He looked around and took in the sight of the gloomy room. Ed followed his gaze. The room, or better said, chamber they found themselves in was humongous. Ed couldn't see the ceiling, just a sort of blackness. On either side of them tall snake statues went all the way up and then faded into the black of the ceiling. The chamber wasn't very well lit and it gave off a sort of greenish glow, though that could have been because of moss growing all over the walls or the greenish paint of the serpents.

"Keep your eyes narrowed." Ed reminded Harry as quietly as possible.

As they inched forward, Ed couldn't help but feel like something was going to jump out at them from every pillar they passed. They continued about halfway across the chamber. From that position they managed to see the end of the room. A statue of a tall monkey-like man stood there, his head was almost not visible because of the lighting, but his beard extended down to his feet. They traced it all the way to the bottom where they discovered a person with flaming red hair lying on the floor. Harry rushed forward to check her. While doing so he had let go of his wand. Harry bent down to the girl and held her in his lap.

"Please- don't be dead..." Ed heard Harry whispering to himself.

The alchemist bent down to check her pulse.

"She's still alive..." He whispered.

Harry looked a little relieved, but he wasn't comfortable with her unconsciousness. The girl's face was as white as snow and her eyes were closed. "Please, wake up, Ginny..." Harry willed the girl while shaking her, but her head just dangled hopelessly from his arm.

"She will not awaken." Both of them turned around to face Voldemort's younger self who was now standing there looking quite smug, although a little blurry around the edges. Ed watched his fingers play lazily with Harry's wand, that he most likely had picked up from the floor.

_'Shit, how could I not have heard him?' _"You're Tom Riddle." Ed stated, raising his hands to a more adequate position for combat.

The teen he addressed raised an eyebrow. "How did you know? I didn't think she'd tell anyone."

"She didn't." Harry said.

"What're you trying to do to her?"

"Oh that. It really isn't much on my part; it's more of what she was doing to herself." His smirk was reminding Ed more and more of Envy.

"What do you mean?" Ed asked, while inching forward slowly.

Unfortunately, Riddle noticed. "Hahahaha! Trying to take me out head on is useless."

"You're a ghost?" It was more of a statement, but also a question.

"Something like that, I'm a memory. I was kept in the diary. Since the foolish girl kept pouring her deepest secrets into my pages, I was able to feed on her soul and in turn feed her some of mine." That explained his blurriness.

"You controlled her and made her attack the students!" Harry shouted angrily, he couldn't understand why anyone would want to do such horrible things. Not even his uncle would do something like that, he was too afraid of the authorities.

"Why yes, and you must be Harry Potter. I've heard so much about you from stupid little Ginny here." Ed's eyes flickered to Ginny's body lying on the floor for just a moment. She was still breathing, but only shallowly. "My goals have changed from those I had fifty years ago. I knew you'd come, Harry. From what Ginny told me you're like a hero, so naturally you would try to solve the mystery, especially if one of your friends was suffering. In giving her soul to me, I was able to materialize and come out of my prison. But still... It puzzles me, how a mere skinny boy like you managed to overthrow someone as powerful as Lord Voldemort, with the only visible damage being your scar."

"You made her open the Chamber of Secrets, attack students and kidnapped her all just so you could get to me? What do you care how Voldemort died!? He probably missed and hit a mirror behind me that reflected his spell back onto him!" Harry yelled, although his theory wouldn't have explained why he had a scar. Also, in his rage he seemed to have forgotten what Ed had told him moments before.

"Foolish boy!" Riddle said, venom dripping from his voice. "I am Lord Voldemort!"

At that moment Ed clapped his hands and touched the floor. A spike shot up from in front of Riddle, but he jumped back to avoid it, although he claimed physical attacks wouldn't hurt him. In that split second in which Riddle was distracted, Ed threw his wand over to Harry, who caught it and shot it a strange look immediately after. Nevertheless he took up a dueling stance.

"What about you?" He asked Ed.

"I'll be fine, don't worry."

Ed had seen Harry shaking during the whole conversation, but he seemed to be managing better now with a wand at his disposal.

"Bloody shorty! Don't you know how to wait your turn you filthy little-" Riddle cursed, his previously smug face contorted into one of outrage and anger, but he was cut short.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE CALLING SMALLER THAN A RED BLOOD CELL, YOU WANNA-BE DARK WIZARD!"

Ed was about to charge, but Riddle looked up at Slytherin's statue and hissed: "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

Ed saw the mouth opening and something started moving in it. "Damn... Harry, over here!"

Both him and Harry turned away and quickly ran towards the nearest wall, carefully keeping their eyes shut. Ed heard the unmistakable splashing of the huge snake hitting the wet ground and slithering closer to them. But he had to wait for just the right moment. Harry bit his lips, trying to think of something he could use against the basilisk.

_'Just a little more...'_ Ed's nerves made him extremely jumpy, especially because he couldn't see what was going on. _'NOW!'_ He told himself, slapping his hands together loudly and them jamming them with full force into the wall in front of him.

He was able to make out the flash of blue light just above him even through his eyelids. The snake roared and thrashed around presumably with its tail, obviously he had hit something. He hesitated just one moment before turning around to look at what he had caused.

_'Drat! I didn't wait long enough.'_

The snake raged around, unable to find them. Although he had been aiming to impale the head and kill it in an instant, he only managed to successfully blind it, which was good enough for now.

"Stupid! Stupid!" Riddle was yelling in parseltongue. "Use your nose and ears damn it, you overgrown worm!"

It listened obediently and calmed down and then tried sniffing them out. Ed had nudged Harry who was now watching the snake in horror. It was much bigger than he had imagined. The golden haired teen clapped his hands once more, but before he could touch the stone, a red ball of light blasted towards him. Ed quickly jumped forward and onto the floor. Landing with his hands first, he used them to roll so that he was in a better position. Now crouched on the floor, he quickly looked around for the person who shot at him. It was Riddle, who still had the wand pointed at him. Harry meanwhile had Ed's wand pointed at Riddle.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled. The Blast of light that came out had an almost glaring glow and it was pretty huge. Harry had to take a step back so as not to lose his balance and fall down. Even he was shocked at its strength.

Riddle turned toward him gave his wand a short flick and simply said: "Protego."

Harry's spell rebounded upon the shield of white light and shot back towards him. But Harry already knew that something like that would happen; he was quite far away which gave Riddle a lot of time if he wanted to block it. So the Gryffindor had run to the side, trying to approach Riddle so he would have less time to react.

Ed saw that Riddle's attention was on Harry, so he turned to the snake which now threw its giant head forward at him. Ed quickly jumped to the side managing to avoid the charging snake. Still in the air he clapped his hands, which upon reaching the ground caused blue light to flash up once more and sending a row of earthen spikes racing toward the snake. Too bad it wasn't deaf, for it quickly pulled its head back up, narrowly avoiding impalement by the spikes. Ed wasted no time in getting to his feet. His palms came into contact with each other again. Energy coursed through the ground forming his trademark spear. The snake turned its head in his direction again, mouth wide open ready to snap shut if it came into contact with anything. Ed ran towards it and narrowly avoided to the right, holding the spear just so that it would cut the snake. But he had made a slight miscalculation. The snake did not only have offensive abilities, but also defensive ones. As such, the spear rubbed on the surface of its scales creating sparks, but was unable to cut through. Ed skidded to a stop to face the snake's head which had turned and was now facing him, it roared, showing its deadly array of teeth. Ed quickly pulled his arm back and tossed the spear towards the open mouth, but the basilisk's mouth snapped close and destroyed the spear before it could do much damage.

Ed slammed his hands together and brought them to the ground. Once more, spikes shot up from the ground. The snake did not have enough time to avoid them this time around. The earth pierced the snake's lower jaw and continued to rise through it. The basilisk flinched back violently effectively severing its damaged lower jaw from the head. It roared out in pain sputtering blood everywhere and lashed out with its tail. The alchemist hadn't been expecting the snake to pull away, if it hadn't the spikes would have pierced its upper jaw and the skull as well. He tried to move away, but the tail hit him in the gut and flung him through the air. He smashed against the wall with his right shoulder and then dropped to the floor on his hands and knees. Upon impact he spat out some blood which now colored the pool of water beneath him a shade of red.

"Shit!" He cursed a little too loudly. He had heard a loud snap from his shoulder when he flew into the wall and there was a kind of stabbing pain in his arm, but there was no blood. He had most likely fractured his arm.

The basilisk's lower jaw lay severed on the floor and the beast heard him and thrust forward full of pain and rage. Ed who was now crouched on the ground knew he wouldn't get very far by trying to run, so he brought his left hand to his right and waited for the basilisk to approach. Just at the right moment, he pressed his hand to the ground. Another set of stone spikes shot out of the ground and pierced the tender inside of the Basilisk's mouth. Although the spikes had finished off the Basilisk, they couldn't stop its body from smashing forward and into the wall. Ed quickly threw himself to the side, to avoid being squashed by the huge beast. The impact could be heard throughout the whole chamber.

"No!" Riddle yelled.

He was only distracted for a split second, but Harry took the opportunity.

"Expelliarmus!" Again the spell was much too powerful. Ed wondered if it was his wand or if Harry was just so angry that his magic had more force behind it.

Riddle turned his attention back in the last second and jumped to the ground, the spell hit his robes and something flew out of it and soared high in the air.

"No!" Riddle screamed again and pointed the wand at the thing.

Ed scrambled to his feet and placed his left hand on his right and touched the floor.

A stone fist shot out of the floor with lightning speed at the same time that Riddle yelled: "Accio diary!"

The diary moved towards him, but the hand snapped close, forcing the diary to stay up there.

"Stupid little brat!"

"WHO THE HELL'RE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE WOULD FIT IN THE TINY GAPS BETWEEN THE BASILISK'S TEETH!?"

Ed put his hands together and placed them on the ground yet again, making a stone fist shoot out. It headed right toward Riddle's stomach. Said person had to jump back to avoid the blow.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry tried again, so Riddle had no choice but to turn his attention back to Harry.

Ed got up and ran towards the stone fist, holding the diary and brought his hands together, making the stone fist come back towards the ground. Riddle kept turning back to him, but he couldn't cast any spells at him, because Harry was doing a wonderful job keeping him busy.

"Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus!" He was shouting. Some of the spells did not fly straight toward Riddle, but made curves and sometimes missed altogether. Ed guessed that the wand didn't really like Harry, however crazy that might sound.

The fist opened up, so Ed could touch it. Once more he put his hands together and touched the diary. It flashed a weird bluish red hue. Tom Riddle screamed out in agony and clutched his chest, dropping to the floor. After a moment it disintegrated into millions of tiny dust particles and the Voldemort from the memory vanished in a flash of light. Ed dropped onto his knees from exhaustion.

"Ed!" Harry called running toward him after retrieving his own wand again.

The transmutation had taken more out of him than he had expected it to and it left an uncomfortable tingling feeling inside of him.

_'Is this what it feels to destroy a piece of a soul?'_ He decided whatever he had just done, he didn't like it.

"Ed, are you alright?" Harry asked bending down to help him get back up.

"I'm alright. Thanks for your help, Harry."

His golden eyes looked around to see the state of the chamber. In quite a few places, stone spikes jutted out of the ground, some still had the basilisk's blood on them. Near one of the walls the basilisk's corpse lay in one heap, and the dust from Riddle's diary lay in the now open stone palm. Harry looked exhausted as well. He let Harry pull him up, so both of them could walk towards Ginny. The red haired girl was slowly gaining color back in her face and she started to stir. She opened her eyes just as they reached her.

"Harry!" She cried almost hysterically. "I'm so sorry! I was responsible for all those attacks! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize that Riddle was manipulating me! And he-" She sobbed and then gasped pointing out at the basilisk "How did you...?"

"Shhh... It's alright, Ed was the one who killed it."

She calmed down, but her face showed confusion when she realized who Harry was walking beside.

"He helped me." Harry explained to her.

She nodded in understanding and gasped out a moment later. "Professor Dumbledore!"

Ed turned around to see Dumbledore entering the Chamber of Secrets and raising his wand at him.


	24. A New Home?

A/N Yay! The last chapter really had a lot of reviews. Thanks to everyone, I really do enjoy reading what you think. I hope that all of you will continue to enjoy this story, I'm trying my best.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter!  


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"Stupefy!" Dumbledore waved his wand and shouted.

Ed quickly jumped to the floor and managed to do a one-handed somersault and land crouched on the floor. Harry was frozen to the spot, he certainly wasn't expecting that, Ginny covered her head and cowered on the ground. Dumbledore walked swiftly towards them.

"Harry, Ginny I'm glad you're alright." He had his back facing them. "I came back, because the school board wanted me to return. I was just going to assist Lockhart, but then I found out from Mr. Weasley that Mr. Elric here was on his way down into the Chamber of Secrets with you. Harry, what were you thinking trusting him like that! He works for Voldemort! Didn't you see him use that wandless magic, Harry? That's very Dark magic!"

Despite Ed having told Harry that Dumbledore was evil, Harry was quite shocked to hear these things from Dumbledore. Fact was, that he had no idea who to trust. He stood there not really knowing what to do or say.

"It's alright, Harry. You're safe now that I'm here. Who could tell what he would have done, had I arrived any later?" Dumbledore got ready to fire another spell.

_'Shit, not now. This guy has the worst timing ever.'_

Dumbledore waved his wand once again and a red jet of light shot towards Ed. He quickly put his left hand to his immobile right one and placed it on the floor. A Stone barrier rose to protect him from the blast. Dumbledore must have put quite a lot of force into his magic, because it made the rock burst and tiny bits of it flew everywhere. Ed had to use his left arm to protect his face, but he also had to quickly attack the old man. After his hands touched each other, the left moved to the ground. Blue light flashed and hands shot out of the ground to grab Dumbledore, so he wouldn't be able to move anymore, but the man just waved his hand creating a white barrier around himself. The rock hands hit it and were unable to continue towards their original target. With a wave of his wand they crumbled back to dust and fell on the floor. Another jet of light shot out of his wand and towards Ed. The teen scrambled away, barely avoiding the ball of light.

_'Damn it!'_ He thought as he stood up and clumsily walked backward. He wanted to tell Harry that Dumbledore was lying, but he needed the strength to avoid the old man and win this match. He stumbled on a small rock and fell on his behind; a ball of light flew over his head.

"You can't win, Mr. Elric. Just confess to your crimes. Resistance is futile."

_'I've used too much energy already.'_ Ed thought and put his hands together and onto the ground. Accompanying the blue light, a thick large stone wall rose out of the ground and encircled the headmaster.

Ed thought that might have done the trick, but he was wrong. A hole appeared in the wall. It was shaped exactly like the headmaster, who now calmly walked through it. He staggered back to his feet and tried to gain some distance between them, but his world was spinning and the old headmaster was surprisingly fast. Ed knew he didn't have the strength for anymore large transmutations, but he refused to give up. Once more his hands came together and touched the ground, a stone wall rose behind him just in time to absorb a less powerful spell than the first one. He leaned on it and slid down in exhaustion. Dumbledore came up from behind and another ball of light flew towards him. Ed managed to throw himself to the side, barely avoiding the spell, but Dumbledore just cast another spell.

"Petrificus Totalus."

It hit him this time, but he didn't feel anything and he couldn't move either.

_'Not like I could move much before that.'_ He thought tiredly, before he blacked out.

Dumbledore levitated the unconscious boy, back to where Harry was holding Ginny tightly.

"It's alright now, my children."

"He's not dead, is he?" Harry asked a little afraid of the answer.

"No, he's just unconscious. But I will make sure that such a dangerous person does not roam about freely. Come now, we shall return to the surface."

Harry was a bit hesitant, but Ginny trusted the headmaster, so she pulled him up and they walked back to the entrance of the cave. The headmaster stopped on the way when he saw what was left of Riddle's diary. He took out a small flask from his pocket and hovered the ashes into it. He then replaced it back into his pocket. The walk was quiet and unsettling for Harry. Neither Dumbledore nor Ginny said anything and he couldn't think of anything to say as well. Was Ed telling him the truth? Or was Dumbledore telling him the truth? Why had Ed been in that room with Voldemort a little more than half a year ago? Ed suddenly seemed like an enigma to him. But he was still his friend, and he didn't want Ed to get hurt.

"What's going to happen to him?" Harry whispered into the silence.

Dumbledore turned towards him. "He will be put into Azkaban, my boy. There he won't be able to harm anyone anymore."

Harry stayed silent. He had no idea where or what Azkaban was, but it must have been something horrible, because Ginny's face paled. He tried to look at her face, but she looked away, obviously she knew, but didn't want to talk about it. At last they reached the hole through which Ed and Harry had slid down. Dumbledore, who was still levitating Ed, waved his free hand and in a moment all four of them were moving back up the tunnel.

"Harry! Ginny! You're alright!" Ron yelled when they were back in the bathroom.

He gave both of them a huge hug.

"I can't believe it. You're alive." He cried, tears of joy forming in his eyes. "What happened to- Oh..." Ron cut himself off as he looked at Dumbledore with Ed beside him, spoiling the mood. "He's not... He's not... Dead... Is he?"

"No, my boy, he isn't dead. But he is a very dark wizard. Much like Voldemort was in his younger years."

"But professor, if he was so evil, why didn't he attack you with those huge spikes he used to kill the basilisk?" Harry blurted out.

"Harry, perhaps he did it to confuse you? Or perhaps he was aiming to suffocate me. He might also have just been too weakened to use them. I do not fully comprehend this dark magic he seems so fond of using."

"What happened to Professor Lockhart?" Harry asked trying to change the subject. He didn't really want to hear any more about Ed being evil.

"I sent him to the hospital wing." Ron answered.

Harry looked away and onto the floor. Was Dumbledore lying? Harry couldn't tell. But the five of them walked onwards led by Dumbledore. They stopped at what Harry knew was McGonagall's office. Inside some voices could be heard. Dumbledore knocked politely on the door and waited for someone to open it. It was McGonagall who came to open it and she seemed quite surprised.

"Albus! What are you doing here? I thought-"

But the old headmaster raised a hand to stop her. "Ah, that explanation shall be left for a later time. For now, I would like to return your students to you."

McGonagall looked past him to see Harry, Ron and Ginny standing behind the old man. And then she saw Ed floating in the air. She raised her eyebrow.

"What happened to-"

"Later, Minerva. For now I think you should reunite a worrying family."

She nodded and led the three children into the room.

Harry was surprised to see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley there, and so were they to see their daughter.

"Ginny!" Molly cried and gathered her into a tight embrace.

"Mum, you're suffocating me!" Ginny retorted, making Mrs. Weasley let go.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right!" She wiped a few tears away with a handkerchief.

"But, how on earth did you manage to get out?" Her father asked.

"I- Well... I don't know." She looked towards Harry and Ron.

Harry wasn't sure what to say and he felt quite nervous. All the eyes in the room were on him. Should he tell them the whole truth? He decided that yes, he could tell them. So he launched into his explanation beginning from that Halloween night.

Dumbledore strode in as well and put Ed on the floor behind the table. Harry finished explaining the story to the Weasleys and McGonagall who were quite surprised to hear about Edward.

"That's where I believe you are wrong Harry. Have you considered that You-Know-Who might be using him to gain your trust? He might have been planning to kill you and had just been waiting for the right time."

Harry was shocked to hear this, but logically it could be true. "No, sir, I haven't thought about that."

"Ah, I thought so, my boy."

McGonagall who had looked like she wanted to retort against Dumbledore accusing the second year Slytherin of affiliations with the dark side, considered this argument and stayed silent.

"Professor, I'm sure Miss Weasley must still be quite exhausted from the entire ordeal. Would you mind guiding her and her family to the hospital wing? I'm sure Madam Pomfrey can fix her up."

"Very well. Please follow me."

"Oh, and I was just thinking. This turn of events certainly was a much unexpected thing. But I find it very deserving of a feast. Would you mind informing the house-elves for me?"

She nodded politely, then led the Weasleys out of the office and headed towards the hospital wing. Harry was about to follow them when Dumbledore stopped him.

"I would like to have a word with you, Harry." Harry turned back around and walked back into the room. "What you did was very reckless, but I won't deny the fact that if you had not done what you did, Miss Weasley might have died and the school would have undoubtedly been closed. But next time you must consider your actions more. Many people would be very sad if something were to happen to you."

"But professor, I thought Ed-"

"-Was on your side. That is understandable. But I doubt even a nearly perfect student such as Miss Granger could have been able to perform wandless magic in his or her second year, unless this student had started training at a very young age, for a very specific reason."

Harry looked to the floor and bit his lip. Dumbledore's arguments were logical, but something in his mind told him that these were lies. But what could he do? Dumbledore was supposedly the most powerful wizard around and a mere 12 year old like him wouldn't even be able to lift a finger against the headmaster. The one thing Harry was afraid of at the moment was ending up like Lockhart. The man had lost all his memories, and Harry desperately wanted to keep his. If Lockhart had been able to use the charm, Dumbledore most certainly would be able to use it as well. So Harry didn't want to reveal his true opinion to the old wizard.

After a long moment he asked tentatively: "May I speak to him professor?"

"No, Harry. It's best you don't. He might try to tell you more lies and it might just be more painful for you to accept his betrayal. I suggest you go down to the feast and have some food and drink. It has been a long night for you."

Harry nodded and walked towards the door. Just then the door burst open violently and in strode none other than Lucius Malfoy. The man was clearly angry, for he saw neither Harry whom he almost knocked over nor Ed lying behind the desk. The house-elf Dobby, who Harry had met at his relatives' house and who was responsible for bewitching the Bludger, was bouncing at his feet trying to polish his shoes.

"So! You were suspended and yet you see it fit to return!" He spat full of fury while ignoring the elf at his feet.

"Well yes, my friend. After hearing that a student was killed they wanted me back here immediately. It was a rather pleasant surprise. Some of them seemed to think that you threatened to curse their families if they did not agree."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes at the old smiling headmaster. "Well? Have you managed to stop the attacks? Have you caught the culprit?"

"Yes, we have."

"Who is it?" He sneered.

Dumbledore took out the flask from his pocket and set it on the wooden table. "The same person as last time, Lucius. Only, this time he acted through other students."

Harry watched Dobby pointing from the book to Mr. Malfoy and then hitting himself. Of course he knew where the diary was from, Ed had told him. Dobby's actions merely confirmed the validity of the information.

"Lucius, imagine what would happen if Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley had not discovered the diary. Imagine what would have happened to the Weasley family and Mr. Weasley's Muggle Protection act if the diary was not found and people heard that his own daughter had attacked and maybe even killed muggle-born students. No one would have been able to prove that little Miss Weasley did not act of her own free will."

"So it seems. But you can hardly call this a diary." Mr. Malfoy retorted.

"We shall see about that." Dumbledore said and emptied the contents of the flask onto the table. He took out his wand and said "Reparo."

The dust instantly rearranged itself back into its previous state, a diary.

"Don't you want to know how she got a hold of the diary, Mr. Malfoy?" Harry suddenly asked after gathering enough courage to interrupt the angry and fuming wizard.

"Why would I want to know how the stupid girl picked up such a dangerous item?" He seethed.

"Because you were the one who gave it to her." Harry replied calmly in the knowledge that there was no way he would be proven wrong.

"Prove it." Malfoy sneered as his eyes narrowed even further.

"I'm afraid no one will be able to do that, my dear friend." Dumbledore said, turning Lucius attention back to him. "But I would advise you not to distribute any more of You-Know-Who's old school things. I'm sure if something like that would happen again, Mr. Weasley will know who is to blame."

The blond man was having a hard time controlling himself at this point. "Dobby! We're leaving." He said abruptly and turned around to leave.

Harry watched the poor elf follow the tall man. Suddenly he had an idea.

"Professor? May I return his book to him?"

"Hmm... Yes, perhaps it is a good idea."

Harry took the diary and removed one of his socks and placed it inside, before running out of the room to chase after Malfoy senior. Dumbledore chuckled and waited for a while. He then got up and levitated the still immobile blond to his office. There, he placed Ed on the floor and then took some Floo powder that he then threw into the fire.

"Minister for Magic's office." Dumbledore said in a clear voice before sticking his head in the emerald flames.

He looked out from the fireplace to see Cornelius Fudge, reading what looked like a very interesting novel.

"Ah, it's good to see you again, my friend." Dumbledore said, nearly scaring the man out of his wits.

"Albus Dumbledore! I thought I had requested that you send me an owl before you just pop in like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack! What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Well yes, I do remember you telling me that. But you also said that I could pop in if it was an emergency, which is why I am here."

"What? What's going on?"

"Come to my office in Hogwarts, I shall remove my password just for this occasion."

"Alright... I'll be there in a little while."

"Thank you for taking the time Minister." Dumbledore took his head out of the fire again, Ed still couldn't move and it was better that way for the headmaster. _'Strange this magic that he uses. I don't feel any magical energy from it (1). And on top of that, he doesn't need a wand. Best to get him out of the way. He might ruin my fun, especially if he's with Voldemort.'_

By this time, Ed had woken up and was very aware that he couldn't move. Upon seeing the headmaster he squeezed his eyes shut, in an attempt to avoid Dumbledore's gaze. It seemed to work, because he didn't feel any prodding at his mind. He allowed one of his eyes to open a crack to see what the headmaster was doing and to see where he was at the moment. From the amount of strange contraptions and the number portraits, presumably of previous headmasters hanging on the wall, he deduced that he was in the headmaster's office, since that was the way it was described in most books he had read on Hogwarts. Ed had to look out of the corner of his eyes to see the headmaster at the fireplace waving his hands and chanting something quietly. The fireplace flashed a dull blue briefly and then returned to normal. The headmaster stood back, not paying any attention to Ed at all, and waited.

After a moment of two, the flames abruptly changed their colors to greenish hues and a man came spinning into it. He didn't seem the least bit dizzy from spinning around and stepped out of the fireplace. The man shook hands with Dumbledore quickly and then turned to him. He looked quite shocked upon seeing the child on the floor.

"What is this, my good man!" the rather round stranger asked of Dumbledore.

"I shall explain, Cornelius. But first have a seat." Both men sat down on very comfortable looking chairs.

Ed closed his eyes again; they seemed to be the only part of his body that he could still control, besides his nose.

"As I returned to the school upon the requests of several members of the school board. I encountered Mr. Ronald Weasley, who told me that two of my own students have ventured into the Chamber of Secrets to save his sister. Now, I have reason to believe that Mr. Elric here on the floor, was not helping them, but rather he was aiming for something else. What exactly I can only guess. But the fact remains that neither Mr. Potter nor Mr. Weasley had any idea where the Chamber was, and had asked Mr. Elric here for help. Luckily, I arrived in time to stop him from doing anything serious to the two students who were down there. Furthermore, he uses a very strange wandless type of magic, which by all means should be considered a very dark affair."

"So you mean to say this child is a dark wizard?"

"Yes, that is exactly the point. I fear that he might endanger the students at the school and must be removed immediately. I have further reason to suspect him though. Last year, he was at the scene when Mr. Potter prevented He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named from getting to the philosopher's stone. Neither Mr. Weasley, nor Miss Granger, nor Mr. Potter had any idea that he was there, which suggests that he was not working with them. Since, he was in the room together with You-Know-Who it leads me to suspect that he was working together with him, hence he might pose a great problem if we let him roam free any longer."

"You can't seriously be planning to put him in Azkaban! He's a mere child! Think of what this might look like to the public! And we also don't have any solid proof only your speculations. If you really think we should do this, we'll need a Veritaserum interrogation first-"

"I would also recommend that method, if not for the fact that Mr. Elric is a highly skilled Occlumens. He seems impervious to the attempts of a skilled Legilimens, as I am, at reading his mind. I do not doubt that he could easily counter the potions effects. I suggest we send him to Azkaban immediately."

"But-"

"I can give you an extract from my memory now, if you really need the proof of dark magic that badly. As you know, a memory freshly extracted could not have been altered."

"Yes, that would be good."

Ed opened one of his eyes just a little bit to see Dumbledore putting his wand at his temple and pulling out what looked like a silvery thread. With his other hand the headmaster moved a stone basin out of his cupboard and put the thread in it.

"Thank you, Albus."

Ed watched how the man, he assumed to be the Minister for Magic judging by his name and the topic they were discussing, held the rim of the basin with his hands and dipped his head in it. He stayed in that position for quite some time, Ed almost thought he had drowned, but then suddenly he pulled his head up again.

"I must agree, this is a most peculiar magic. It does seem like pretty dark stuff, although I don't understand much of all these dark things..."

"That is quite understandable, my friend. The dark arts are always evolving and changing. It is quite a task to be up to date on them, especially for someone with such an important and time-consuming job as yours."

"I shall call in some aurors to take him away. I'm glad that you always keep an eye open for these sorts of things, Albus. I now see your point; it truly would be bad if we left him alone. Would you mind me using your Floo powder?"

"No, no, go ahead."

_'So this Azkaban must be something like a prison. Shit! How am I going to stop this lunatic and get back home if I'm stuck in a prison?!'_

Mr. Fudge did the same as Dumbledore had done earlier and soon after took his head out of the fire again.

"They will arrive in about half an hour."

"Ah, excellent, would like to have some lemon drops in the meanwhile?"

"No, thank you."

"Then perhaps some tea?"

"Oh, yes. Tea would be great."

"Alright, have a seat." Dumbledore called up a house-elf and told it to make some nice tea for the minister.

The elf complied and soon came back with a tray of hot tea. The two men chatted about various things, leaving Ed to lie frozen in place on the floor.

_'Bastards, how can you leave me on the floor like this while you drink your stupid tea?!'_ He mentally shouted. But it was no use, since he was bound by the magic. _'I should have known that something like this would happen...'_ He thought.

Not long after, four aurors knocked on the door politely before coming in.

"Where is the criminal?" The one in charge asked.

"This boy here." Fudge said.

All four of them raised their eyebrows.

"Are you sure, sir?" Another one asked, skeptically.

"Yes, here is the proof. I saw him take it out myself; he could not have modified it."

The auroros nodded and one by one they looked at the Headmasters memory. He seemed to have forgotten that Ed was there, so Ed decided to see what he was thinking about.

_'Hmmm... This was really clever of me. The memory only shows the parts of the battle. It wouldn't show how I was the first one who attacked. Now, I won't have to worry about his strange magic getting in my way. Although, I probably should try and find out how he learned of this and how it works, it might be useful to me.'_

Ed backed out.

_'What the hell, stupid old man and his trickery!'_

"You're right, sir. This does look to be like extremely dark magic. We shall take him to Azkaban at once. Is he properly disarmed?"

"Yes."

One of the men flicked his wand at Ed's legs and suddenly they could move again. Another one of them lifted Ed up on his feet.

"Walk." He commanded simply.

One of the aurors walked in front, one behind and two at his sides. They all looked quite burly and he didn't think he could take all four of them on, especially half-bound and with an arm that he couldn't move and ached like hell.

_'Don't need to give them any more reason for putting me in Azkaban. Besides, how bad could a prison be?' _He thought, trying to cheer himself up.

They walked out of the castle and across the school grounds. It was a boring and long walk and neither of the men even said anything to each other. They came to a halt when they walked past the school gates. Three of them spun out of sight with a quiet pop and the last grabbed Ed's arm roughly and pulled him in a spin. He felt an odd twisting in his stomach, but it wasn't as bad as the first time. He staggered a bit when his feet touched ground again, due to the fact that he couldn't move his upper body. The wizard who was holding him kept him from falling on the ground though. He had to turn around with his feet to look at his surroundings. The weather was bad compared to the weather they had at Hogwarts. The sky was grey and rain threatened to fall. Mist prevented him from seeing too much, but from what he could see they had apparated near a coast.

The one holding his arm dragged him forward before he could look at what was behind him. It was hard to see, but as they approached the shore, he was able to make out the outline of an island with what looked like a tower on it. They approached a small hut at the shore, there one of the aurors knocked on the door. He exchanged a few whispered words with the man who opened it. He was a rather old looking man and reminded Ed of Filch. He led them down the shore to a jetty. The five of them had to stop there and wait for the man to find his wand in his dirty jacket. He pulled it out and waved it over the water a bit. A small rowing boat floated up from under the water. It didn't look to be in good condition, but he hoped strongly that it was being held together by magic. Two of the men held Ed from both sides and hoisted him into the boat after the one who had been walking in the front. They sat in the exact same formation they had been walking in. To Ed's surprise the boat took off on its own, slowly and steadily it rocked over the sea towards the little island Ed had thought he had seen. The closer they got to the island, the more and more Ed was having second thoughts about a prison being not so bad. An icy chill ran down his back and he still couldn't turn around and look at something else. The prison was giving off a bad vibe, but the aurors didn't seem to be affected too badly by it. Ed was glad that he didn't get seasick; else he might have thrown up by now.

"This'll teach you your lesson for using Dark arts. As they say, 'ignorance of the law excuses no one.'" The guy on Ed's left suddenly said, but he shut up again after the auror in front shot him a glare.

It wasn't long before Ed had the feeling that hopelessness was literally spilling out from the island and he didn't want to get any closer to it, but the boat just kept moving forward. He just wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment. The closer they got, the colder it became. The boat stopped at the shore and a rope magically bound it to a big rock. The aurors pushed him forward and walked towards the towering edifice. At the entrance there were two guards, they nodded at the group and opened the gates. As they opened, Ed felt constant waves of despair just flowing out from inside of it. He wanted to turn around and run away, but the aurors just kept pulling him forward. Thankfully, two of them waved their wands and summoned some kind of ethereal light in the shape of animals. The one Ed could see resembled a horse and it led the way. In the glow of the light Ed felt safe, but in his mind he knew it wouldn't last. They would leave him here once they had brought him to his cell.

There was something like an information desk and a tired looking wizard sat behind it. When he saw them he stood up, picked up a set of keys and followed the small group. They walked down one pair of stairs and then another pairs of stairs.

Weird ghost-like beings flew past them at the sides sometimes. Ed remembered them from some books he'd read before. Dementors, they were called. As well as being able to suck out one's soul, they fed on happiness and hope, which made them really good prison guards. The only problem with that was that criminals who were supposed to stay in prison alive often just died and were thrown out of the building. These sentient creatures could be unpredictable and usually would do whatever they liked. Most of them were just stationed as prison guards during times of peace, but they could change sides rapidly if given the prospect of more food. At last they reached the bottom, which Ed had made out to be seven floors under the ground. The man with the keys opened one of the wooden cell doors a long way down the hall, and the aurors shoved the golden haired teen into the small room. The door was locked again almost immediately after.

The prisoner in the opposite cell jumped to the small barred window at his door. "Let me go! Let me go! I'm innocent!" He yelled in a very hoarse voice.

"Look, Black. We've brought you some company; you're not saying you want to leave now, are you? I'm sure you two will have lots of fun, you'll just have to hope he doesn't lose his mind." The aurors laughed.

Ed jumped to the door as well. "You can't leave me here!" He protested though he didn't know why. Deep down Ed knew it was pointless.

The one who had held him turned towards him. "Tough luck kid. As Danny said: 'ignorance of the law excuses no one.' You should have thought your actions through thoroughly, before trying to kill the savior of the wizarding world and his friends. Not to mention allying with the dark lord."

"What kids get up to these days..." Another one of them said.

"Make yourself at home; you'll probably be staying for a while." The leader said in a mock voice.

They left, laughing all the while.  


* * *

A/N (1) He can't feel any magical energy, because of the necklace


	25. Temporary Salvation?

A/N Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them! I'm glad everyone (well at least everyone who reviewed) likes it up 'till now.

Yay! SaphiraIce passed her entrance exams!

to FantomoDrako: It would be really kind of you if you could point out the exact places where words are missing to me, so I could correct those for later readers.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything that you recognize from either Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist.

Alright! On to the chapter!  


* * *

A little bit later one of the human guards came down and pointed his wand at him. With a flick, Ed's clothes turned into a prisoner's attire. The man grunted and then walked away again. It wasn't long after the guard had gone that Ed's shock of being left there wore down and he felt really frustrated and kicked the wall of his cell. He had used his left leg out of habit, but it just made him cringe in pain. The wall didn't budge. There didn't seem to be any dementors on this floor at the moment, so his sanity was safe for now.

"What's your name, kid?" The man with the hoarse voice asked from the opposite cell.

"Kid? Who're you callin' a kid, you old geezer?! I'm eighteen, damn it! And shouldn't you be introducing yourself first?" Ed shouted at him out of pure annoyance at being locked in a tiny room in a depressing place.

The man looked taken aback by the old comment, but snorted. "Eighteen? Who're you kidding? At the very most you could be thirteen. If you still have that much energy in you, you better make sure you don't waste it. You'll need it in here. Anyway, the name's Sirius Black and I'm not old. So who're you?"

_'Sirius Black? Sounds familiar...'_ "Ed Elric." He replied, sliding to the ground. The events of the day were starting to get to him, especially since he hadn't really slept.

"You don't sound like someone who'd kill people, but I guess that's just not really how things work, right?"

"I haven't killed anyone and I wasn't planning to. I was falsely accused."

"So we're in the same boat, eh?"

"Wait... you're the guy who supposedly betrayed the Potters?"

"Yep, sure took you long to figure it out. So, who turned a kid like you in to the ministry?"

Ed gritted his teeth at being called a kid, but he was simply too tired to shout again. "Dumbledore."

"That evil bastard! He was the one who killed Lily and James, you know!"

Ed sighed. "Yeah... I know."

"The evil- Wait... You believe me?" He sounded rather like Ed had just stated that the dead could come back.

"Yeah... I... Do..." Ed fell asleep before anymore could be said.  


* * *

The sky was clear and it shone a pretty shade of red. The sun was setting. From the foot of the hill he watched the two at the top. His mother smiled at his brother, but her face rapidly contorted into a frown or maybe even a glare as she turned to him. His brother looked angry, too.

"Why couldn't you make me right, Edward?" She asked him, her face morphing into the grotesque shape he remembered from their basement. Her eyes started to glow that eerie red color.

"I-I-I tried!" He stammered. "I did, I swear!"

"It's all your fault we failed!" His little brother shouted.

They turned around and started to walk away.

"No! Don't leave me! Al! Mom!"

He tried to run after them, but his head collided with something hard and he staggered back and fell on his behind. The colorful scene spiraled out of his view and was replaced by the dull gray of the prison. He looked up to see that he had crashed into the door. A chill ran down his spine as he looked straight into the face of a dementor that was looking at him through the small barred window on the door. He felt himself shaking and his whole body was tense. Another nightmarish scene threatened to take over his mind. Luckily, the beast left him alone, and he sucked in a shaky breath. Screaming could be heard from the cells next door, the other inmates were probably going through one of their worst nightmares again. He watched the dementors fly past his window once more headed for the stairs.

Only after another long moment, he relaxed his tense body and slumped against the wall. He thought it was his tenth day there, but he wasn't sure. More than half of the time the dementors had been making him have nightmares and made him watch his most painful memories over and over again. He hadn't been able to talk to Black again, because one of them was always being hounded by the ghostly creatures. His fuzzy brain registered a small bowl with something akin to mush on the floor somewhere beside him. Ed slowly crawled over to it and dropped his whole body onto the floor. The aurors hadn't released his hands, but he had somehow managed to get his head free of the spell. Ed was feeling extremely weak, but he forced himself to lightly tip the bowl with his chin and then use his tongue to transfer its contents into his mouth. The screams next door died down, only somewhere down the long corridor someone was still screaming. Although he could be quite picky concerning food, he hardly took note of what was in his mouth. But it did its job; Ed was slowly but surely feeling less bleary. He had come to the conclusion that eating helped against the effects of dementors. Still, it wasn't enough to get him back to normal.

"You hanging in there, Ed?" Sirius voice came from the other side, he sounded much worse than the other day. Ed supposed that the aurors' ethereal creatures had greatly lessened the effect the dementors had on him.

Ed groaned in response.

Ed heard a hollow laughter from the other's cell. "So, you actually believe me? That Dumbledore is evil?"

"Huh? What? Oh... Heard it from my dad... Indirectly..."

"Your dad? Who's your dad?"

"Hohenheim."

"What! That guy? He had a kid? Wait, but that doesn't even make sense... Why the hell are you so young?"

"I'll tell you if we ever get out of here alive..."

"What're the odds-" Sirius was cut short by the chill that swept through the hall again.

Ed crawled into a corner in his cell and hoped the dementors would just forget he was there. But he never had such luck in life.

And so the horror began again.  


* * *

_'Why in the world am I still living? I should just die... It would be a thousand times better than this nightmare... No! I have to live! For Al, Winry and Granny... And for Harry and Alphonse and Trisha...'_ He was once again staring at the ceiling of the hallway through the tiny window on his door. The hall was only illuminated by a few small candles and the light of day never reached this far underground. He really wasn't sure how long he'd been here now, maybe two or three weeks, or perhaps more like six or seven. Time didn't seem to matter in a place like this. He hardly knew when it was night or day. He couldn't tell dinner apart from lunch or breakfast.

"You still there, new guy?" Sirius asked once again.

Ed didn't answer for a long time; he didn't really know what the point of it was anymore. Finally he decided to answer, just so he wouldn't worry the other man who had tried to keep him sane. "I'm not really new anymore..."

"Yeah, but it'll get boring if I kept calling you Ed. And you're the newest guy around, so it doesn't matter."

Ed groaned. The temperatures were dropping again, which signified the return of their tormentors. Ed just lay there and waited for either the horrors of his past or his creative nightmares to engulf him once more:

It was raining and he was leaning against a stone wall. His metal arm and leg were destroyed. A large fist held his head. They were in an alleyway. A broken suit of armor lay to the side. He looked up past the fist toward the face of the man who held him. A large cross-shaped scar, dark skin and red eyes were the man's most prominent features. Ed closed his eyes and waited silently for his death to come, for his head to be blown to bits, but it never happened. The man released him, he felt it. Surprised he opened his eyes only to see the man walking towards the suit of armor.

"No! You can't kill him! Not him! No! Al!" He screamed and then the armor flew into bits. Tears trickled down his cheeks. "No... Not Al..." He whispered. The scene before him blurred and back he was in the prison. "No... Not Al..." He whispered again.

The walls seemed to be spinning and then everything went black. And then when he opened his eyes everything was white. And he realized that he could move his hands again. He turned around to face the gate. For a moment he didn't know what to do. His heart was pounding furiously in his chest. Would it open? Would he have to open it? He clapped his hands and placed them on the gate. He felt the energy rush through him and the huge doors swung open, but everything was still white. He blinked and looked around. It was snow.

_'Al!'_ He shouted.

"Ahh!" His little brother, whose eyes he was seeing through, fell face first into the deep snow out of surprise. "Brother, you scared me!"

Ed forced up a chuckle. The bright sunlight on the snow nearly blinded his unaccustomed mind's eyes. It seemed cold, but Ed felt a warmth inside of him he hadn't felt in quite a long while since going to the freezing prison.

"It's so good to see you again, brother! I'm sorry; I haven't been able to get to you. I'm still searching for Mr. Mustang and it's taking quite long to cover all this snowy landscape by foot... Brother? Are you alright? How should I say this...? I feel like you're really tired and scared? What's wrong?"

For a moment Ed didn't know what to say, didn't know if he should say anything. He was just so glad that it had just been a nightmare.

"Brother, what happened?" Al urged.

_'Al... I...'_ He paused a bit, it suddenly felt kind of embarrassing to tell someone an old man beat him up and tossed him in jail. _'I killed the basilisk and destroyed the diary.'_ He finally said and felt how Al raised his eyebrows.

"That can't be all. I would imagine that would make you happy and not depressed."

_'After that, Dumbledore came and attacked me. I was defeated and then he got the ministry to put me in their prison.'_

Al gasped. "Oh, brother! What do they do to you in that prison! Surely just being there wouldn't make you look like this! I mean, it feels as if you don't look well at all."

As usual, Al knew his brother inside out. But Ed was feeling immensely better now that his spirit was not actually in the prison.

_'They have these prison guards, they're not human. Simply put, they're called dementors and they make people lose hope and have nightmares. Apparently they can suck out your soul and that action is known as a 'dementor's kiss'. I was feeling really bad before I came here and I had this nightmare where you...'_

Al understood what his brother was trying to say. "I'm alright Ed. There are no such monsters in our world. I'm fine, so don't you worry about me." By this time, Al had walked over to a frozen lake, his reflection showed a smiling face. Ed couldn't help but smile a little in response. "You can always come back through the magic plane. I'll be here for you."

_'Thanks, Al.'_

Al sat onto the ground taking out a sandwich he then started eating. Both were silent for a while, just enjoying the peacefulness of their surroundings.

"But, isn't there a way out of that place?" Al asked worriedly, breaking the silence in the process.

_'I don't know, I suppose I could use alchemy, but my arm is still broken from my fight with the basilisk and my arms are bound by a spell, so I can't use them. Oh and Sirius Black, the guy who tried to stop Dumbledore from killing Harry's parents, is just opposite me. I should probably try and get him out as well.'_

Al leaned back to lie on the snow and looked at the sky while thinking over the facts. "So wizards can't teleport out of the prison? I mean they would have done it a long time ago if they could, right?"

_'Yeah, I guess so. They probably have some spell to prevent that.'_ Ed answered.

"If you could somehow use your hands then you could just make a tunnel out of there." Al said a little dejectedly.

Ed shook his head. _'I don't think that would work. The prison is surrounded by a lot of water and even if it was deep enough I don't have any idea in which direction I'd have to make the tunnel. I could just end up further out at sea.'_

"How about swimming?"  
_  
'Hmm... It's worth considering, but I'd have to work out the finer points first.'_

Silence descended upon them again, but this time both were thinking very hard.

"Brother, how do you think the anti-teleporting spell works? Do you think it's like a field, maybe a sphere that surrounds the area?"

_'Possibly. If it was, then I might be able to get out by digging deeper.'_ Ed contemplated. _'But that's only if I can get my hands free and if Black can do the teleporting thing and if our theory is correct.'_

Al nodded he seemed to have more hope now. "You can do wandless magic, right brother?"  
_  
'Yeah, I guess so. But I'm not sure if I have enough energy for it. It's difficult to recover in a prison, and I actually feel like my magic may be weakening there.'_

Al nodded. "I was thinking if it was possible for you to force a counter spell through your arms, but of course I'm just speculating."  
_  
'Hmm... It might work. But as I said, I'd have to recover first, which is not easy in the prison. I'll test it out, but if it works I'll have to pretend like my arms are still immobile and I imagine that's going to be pretty though.'_

"Right." Al said and then he fidgeted a bit before adding: "Maybe you should go back now. Staying here won't get you your stamina back. I know it must be horrible, there's no other way you'd be in such a bad state, but you have to sleep to get your strength back."

Ed sighed. _'Yeah, I know. But it's so much more relaxing here.'_

"Whatever you think is best, brother." Al replied.

Ed really wanted to stay longer, he felt like his hope was coming back. But it wouldn't last, because he woke back up with a start at the sound of another prisoner screaming. The dementors apparently hadn't been able to rouse the alchemist from his happy dreams, so they ignored him as they flew back up.

When Ed was sure that they were out of earshot he asked: "You still alive old man?"

"Who're you calling old!" Black yelled. Although he tried to sound cheerful something in his voice betrayed him. Ed realized that the man was nearing his limits after twelve years in this hellhole without any breaks as Ed had just had.

"Can you apparate?" Ed decided to ask him.

The man snorted from his cell. "Of course I can! Which grown wizard can't?" The man paused for a bit then added: "But I'm sure you'll already know that you can't apparate out of Azkaban. They have these Anti-Dispparition-Jinxes in place..."

"Can you Side-Along apparate?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He trailed off sounding rather wistful.

"So, can you apparate without a wand?"

"Jesus, you sure sound happy today... Yeah I can, but what good is that?"

The teen ignored the question and shot another one back. "How does an Anti-Dispparition-Jinx work?"

"Ah, jeez... I have no idea. What're you trying to get at anyway?"

"It has a field of effect, it's spherical and this one here in Azkaban probably has a radius of about three kilometers. I too am really interested in what you might be up to, kid. Surely, you are not planning to escape? To this day no one has managed to break out of this prison without any outside help, I don't believe that a child would succeed after so many failed attempts by extremely powerful and dangerous wizards." The wizard beside his cell said.

Ed grumbled at the kid comment, but didn't answer. He was already deep in thought about what he could do to get out of here.

_'Tunneling won't work; we'd have to go extremely deep into the earth. If we try swimming, we'll get caught before we can get anywhere, we would need a distraction...'_

His neighbor had grown impatient by this time and started shouting: "Are you deaf, boy? I just asked you what you're planning! You better answer me, or I'll-"

Ed realized he must have space out, he would have liked to answer, but the chill came again. Silently a hooded figure floated through the air to the source of the noise. It peered closely at everyone it passed until coming upon the man who had answered the teen earlier.

_'Three, two one...'_ Ed thought.

And then the man started screaming and screaming.

Ed pressed one of his ears against the floor to at least shield one of them from the noise, as he still couldn't move his hands. After what seemed like ages he finally quieted down and the ghostly monster glided back up. Ed breathed out a sigh of relief when it ignored him.

A few moments later, Black asked quietly: "Are you really trying to escape?"

"Yeah." He answered.

"How would you do that? Running to the surface is suicide, especially with so many aurors and dementors guarding the place. Besides none of us have wands, so we can't use magic or at least nothing powerful, maybe a Lumos or something like that."

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Ed whispered, but obviously his conversation partner heard him.

"What do you mean?"

"Can you swim?" Ed asked, ignoring the question again.

"Ignoring me are we now? Yeah, I can swim, but why do you need to know that? You're not really thinking of running up several flights of stairs and then swimming far enough to apparate are you?"

"No and could you shut up for a moment? I'm trying to think."

"Okay, okay. But just one more question, am I included in this brilliant escape plan of yours?"

"If you shut up."

Black seemed perplexed, but stayed silent after that.  
_  
'Right so he can swim, but we'd probably need some support, swimming three kilometers is suicide. Maybe I could use a bit of the door?'_

Ed moved closer towards the door and examined it.

_'Okay, seems like real wood to me. Now, we need a distraction...'_

Ed looked around his room, but didn't find anything. He decided two brains would work better than one, so he closed his eyes and tried to sleep, which wasn't very difficult, because he was tired anyway. As usual, the gate appeared in his dreams and he crossed it without a problem. The landscape that appeared before him was still snowy, but the sky was clear now and his little brother was walking beside a road.

_'I'm back, Al!'_ He called.

Al was shocked, but this time he merely flinched.  
_  
'Ed! Have you tried it out? Did it work? Have you escaped?'_  
_  
'No, I haven't tried it out yet, but I want to wait 'till I've got everything figured out.'_

_'Do you need my help?'_

_'Yeah, actually I do. What do you think I could use as a distraction. Let's assume I can get my hands back under my control and I can use alchemy.'_

"Hmm..." Al intoned out loud while thinking.

A man on a donkey who rode by him looked at him strangely. Al smiled sheepishly at the man when he noticed.  
_  
'How dare he look at you like that-'_

_'Ed calm down! You wouldn't think it was normal too, if you heard someone randomly making noises! Anyway, let's get back to the subject. What do you have in the prison?'_ Al asked.  
_  
'Let me think... There are the walls and floor and a wooden door with metal bars, a small pillow. Then there's the food, I mean some kind of slushy thing, that's served three times a day and I might be able to get some wax from the candles in the hallway. You think we could make a dummy?'_

_'Yeah, that's where I was heading.'_  
_  
'So, I'd have to transmute some of the stone into something my shape, place it sleeping on the floor and cover it with the clothes that I'll make out of the pillow.'_  
_  
'You'd have to do something about the hair though...'_ Al commented.

Ed thought for a bit. _'I think I could cut it off and stick it there. I'm sure I'll find a spell to regrow it.'_  
_  
'Magic sure can do a lot of things.'_

_'Yeah. Alright, thanks Al. I'll try and get some sleep now. Wish me luck.'_

_'Right, bye Ed! Good luck escaping! And please come back and tell me when you've escaped.'_

Ed pictured his hands again and put them together, he stabilized his energy flow and then said clearly: _'Finite Incantatem!'_ And just like that he was back in Azkaban again. He wished he weren't, but if he was planning to get out of here for good this was the only way. He felt refreshed, yet tired after his visit, so he lay down and closed his eyes, testing out which position would be good to lie in so no one in the corridor could see any skin on his face. He finally woke up again, after what must have been many hours.

"Oi, Black!" He called, when he was sure none of the guards were around. "I think I've got it figured out."  


* * *

A/N The chapter's a little shorter than usual, but I thought it was a good place to stop (Somewhat standard excuse for shorter than usual chapters).


	26. Big and Black?

A/N I'm so sorry for the late update, but I've just had the worst experience ever... Aside from a headache, I had more than enough time to write, but then... writer's block... I sat down and nothing would come, I just couldn't write... I hope it turned out okay though...

I think I've never received so many reviews before, it makes me really happy!

To volley07: Thank you for your high praises and your interesting idea! I hadn't thought of that, but when you mentioned it, I did try to look for a way to put that in. But it's a little impossible, because he lost his limbs when he was 11. While Ed actually turned out to be a year too young in my story (I don't know how that happened...), his birthday will come quite soon. Which would mean he would be turning 12 (They went into the chamber sometime after Christmas), which would surely be past the time he actually lost his limbs. But it's a great idea, I'm sorry I couldn't use it. But you could always write your own!

B/N Thank yous to all who congratulated me for the successfully passed entrance exam!

Disclaimer: Neither me nor my beta own anything related to Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter.

* * *

"So what's your brilliant plan?" Sirius asked with a slightly more cheerful tone, as cheerful as one could get in Azkaban anyway.

Ed weighed his options before deciding to say: "I'll tell you when I've prepared some stuff."

"What? Why can't you tell me now?"

Ed sighed. "Because it all depends on whether or not I can free my hands. If I can't we'll just have to stay here until I can. When I can then we'll most likely get out of here quite soon after."

"Alright! How fast do you think you can get your hands free?"

"If the dementors decide to give us a break for a while then I would be able to concentrate better, which would enable me to get this done quicker. And of course, the sooner you keep quiet, the sooner I can start trying."

"Right, just shut up and hope the youngest prisoner ever can pull off an escape."

Ed rolled his eyes, not that it was visible to anyone at all though. Just as Ed was about to start his first attempt a strange gurgling and stuttering noise disturbed him.

"Y-Y-You h-h-have t-t-to t-t-take m-m-me w-w-with y-y-you!" It was the prisoner beside Ed's cell.  
_  
'Boy the dementors sure did a great job on him. But I can't take him along; we'd never have enough time. Besides, I'm not trying to break highly dangerous wizards out, especially those on this level of the prison.'_

"Y-Y-You h-h-have t-t-to! O-O-Or e-e-else I-I-I'll t-t-tell t-t-the g-g-guards."

"Alright, go ahead." Ed challenged.

He cackled somewhat evilly and then started shouting: "G-G-Guards! G-G-Guards! S-S-Someone i-i-is a-a-attempting t-t-to b-b-break o-o-out!"

Ed lay down in the position he wanted his dummy to be in and then started counting the seconds 'till the guards made their way down there and assessed the situation. The man continued shouting, but it took the aurors a good five minutes before they came down.

"Alright, alright... SHUT UP!" One of them yelled.

Quickly the man shut up. The aurors walked slowly past each cell and peered into each one. The footsteps made their way down the corridor and then came back.

"Alright, who's the wise guy?" The same man called again.

"I-I-It's me!"

They walked over to his cell and looked at him. "You again? Weren't you the guy causing trouble just yesterday? Come on guys, false alarm."

"W-W-Wait! No. It's true! I swear!" He shouted now suddenly gathering his courage. "The kid in the cell beside mine, he's plotting to get out of here! Just yesterday he asked how the barriers work!"

A howl of laughter exploded from the corridor. "You seriously expect us to believe that a child barely through his second school year would pull off something none of you old wizards have ever done? Ridiculous! Moreover, look his probably barely still sane."

Ed heard the footsteps approach his cell.

"Yo! Short stuff! You still alive?"

It took a lot of willpower on Ed's part not to lash out at the idiot. He felt perfectly fine, since the dementors hadn't visited him since his last spiritual trip back to Amestris. After quite a bit of delay, he let out a noncommittal sound from his throat, just in case they decided to come in and check if he was alive.

The guards started laughing again. "You really think this brat could whip up an escape plan? The only one I'd really suspect of escaping is Black here, but he's already been a good boy for nearly twelve years now, I'm sure he'll behave for a little longer. After all, I doubt he'll hold on much longer."

The footsteps were moving away, but the prisoner shouted again. "Wait! I swear! The two of them were plotting together! They're both trying to escape!"

There was a short moment of silence in which all the footsteps stopped.

"What d'you think guys? He's pretty nuts, ain't he? And the dementors are hungry aren't they? Well, let's just give him to them, before he thinks of escaping."

There were some agreeing sounds and the footsteps faded back up the stairs. At first the man still tried to shout at them to come back, but then he quieted.

"This is all your fault..." He said after a while.

"How so? You have only yourself to blame. It was entirely your decision to spill the beans." Sirius said.

Ed didn't say anything.

Now that the men were gone, he did feel quite bad for leaving the other prisoner to his fate. The man started sobbing as the air cooled down rapidly. Ed sat back up and his eyes followed one silhouetted figure gliding slowly and menacingly past his window. Someone was going to die here, in the cell next to his. And the worst thing was, somewhere in his mind he knew something like that could have happened.

His brain was screaming at him._ 'You shouldn't have challenged him like that! You should have just told him you'd take him along! You should have told him what you thought could happen! It's partly your fault he's dying now!'_

The man started screaming at the sight of his executioner, but the screams died down into what sounded like gasps of air accompanied by a rattling sort of breath. Instantly it became much colder at the same time that the scream died down. Ed shivered where he sat. He tried to think of something else, but his mind kept tossing wild imaginations of what might have happened in the cell beside his own. It seemed forever until the rattling in the air dissipated and the temperature rose just slightly. A creaking could be heard and then moments later, the dementor got a hold of the dead man and hovered with him in a tight grip back up the stairs. Everything seemed to go up the stairs.  
_  
'I'll have to change that...'_ Ed thought meekly trying to get his thoughts back to saving his own hide. _'Right, concentrate. I need to get my magic into my arms and then I have to warp it so that its properties turn to dispelling. Okay, calm down. First push the magic into the arms.'_ Ed closed his eyes and tried summoning his magic. But it was much harder actually trying to do it than thinking it. _'Damn, it would be so much easier with an array... An array guides energy, a wand guides magic. I need the magic in my arms... But my magic is being drained away in this place... Think, Ed! What can you do?'_

After many hours of not getting anywhere, he was too tired to continued and lay down to rest. When he woke up, to his dismay everything was still as it was when he fell asleep. He quickly gobbled down his mush and then sat upright against the wall and closed his eyes and tried to focus again. He willed his magic to move, but it just didn't want to.  
_  
'Damn it's not working. Do I really need a circle?'_ He closed his eyes and tried once more, but he was interrupted.

_'Ed!'_ It was none other than Al.

_'Al, what're you doing here? What if the dementors can somehow get to you?!'_

_'Don't worry, brother. If they come, I'll go back. But I came to ask you if you need any help.'_

_'Yeah, I probably do need help. It's just not working. I don't know if it's because I don't have enough magic left in me or if I just can't control it well enough to use it without some physical energy conductor.'_

_'Maybe I can help? I mean, father was a wizard and you're a wizard and I'm here now. Maybe I have magic too? If I do have magic, I could probably give you some. Since I'm in you in the moment and it would explain why I can use the magical gate.'_

_'That's true.' _Ed replied. _'So what do you think you have to do?'_ Ed then felt something tingle in his arms._ 'What was that?!'_

_'It worked?' _Al asked.  
_  
'Yeah, it must have.'_

_'Alright.'_

For a few moments nothing happened. Then suddenly Ed felt a jolt, making him sit bolt upright.

_'Al! What are you doing!?'_

_'Charging you.'_

_'Why does it give off so much power?'_ Ed asked.  
_  
'I think you could imagine it sort of like a battery. Could you try again now?'_

Ed focused his energy and tried moving it where he wanted it to go. This time it worked, he felt it coursing into his arms. Now, he shifted his center of attention to the purpose of the magic.

_'Finite Incantatem.' _And just like that, Ed could move his hands again.  
_  
'Great! You can move again!'_ Al cheered from inside his head.

"Black! We're getting out of here! You don't mind cutting your hair do you?" Ed whispered.

"What?! No, of course not! But what's the plan?!"

"I'll explain on the way."

Ed quickly stood up, put his hands together and transmuted the stone wall into a figure with his shape and size. His hands touched again, this time it was the pillows turn. Quick as a flash, it turned into the exact same clothes he was wearing. And next came his hair. With another light clap of his hands, they came off and then with another, they stuck to the rock dummy. Yet another light clap made a tunnel appear from his cell to Sirius' cell.

"WOAH!" Black exclaimed.

"Ssssshhhhhhhh!" Ed hissed at him from his own cell.

"Right, sorry."

He then transmuted his thick and heavy wooden door leaving only a thin strip standing and making the rest more compact. That way it would look like the door was still there and they had some wood to support them. He also shaped it like his old traveling suitcase so he could carry it over to the over cell more easily. Ed quickly jumped into the tunnel and crossed over to Sirius' cell. He had vaguely glimpsed the man when he just arrived at Azkaban, but he was too preoccupied and tired to really look at him. So for the first time, he got a good look at the man. Sirius had shoulder length tangled up black hair. He was quite tall and way too thin, his many years in Azkaban had made sure of that. But nevertheless he had a big goofy grin on his face that did not fail to show his yellow teeth.

"So, how're we getting out of here?" He asked.

"Just a moment." Ed replied, passing over the wooden block and placing his hands together again. He quickly repeated the things he had already done in his cell, this time making a replica of Sirius. After the hair was stuck, he did the same to Sirius' door as he had done to his own and gave the block to Sirius as well.

"W-What are you doing? What kind of magic is that and what's this stuff for?"

"Later." Ed said. One transmutation later and the door opened with ease. "Get a candle."

"Right."

After some quick thinking he clapped his hands lightly and placed it on the wall.

"There, that should cause enough commotion on the upper floor."

Right on cue some prisoners a few floors above theirs started screaming so loudly that they could be heard loud and clear all the way down here. Another few claps and the tunnel closed and a large hole opened up in the floor. This one was big enough for both of them to get into.

"Get down. And take the wood with you." Ed told him, before locking the door to Black's cell again.

The good thing about alchemy was that it wasn't magic and the dementors did not steal alchemical energy. Ed quickly followed Black down into the tunnel and sealed it back up. He took the wood and changed its shape to resemble a raft.

"Here's the plan. I'm going to make a tunnel and we're going to swim, alright? It'll probably take a while before they notice that we've escaped. When we've crossed the barrier, you apparate us, got it?"

Black quickly nodded and took the raft, apparently understanding what they would be using it for. Ed clapped his hands and touched one of the walls. A bright blue light flashed and the hole turned into a tunnel. He didn't make the tunnel too long though, in case the water flooded in and they had to swim an extremely long way before they reached the surface. Each time they reached the end, he closed up the path they had just walked. It didn't take long until they reached the water which crashed into the tunnel with great force. Ed quickly transmutated two bars at the side of the walls so they could hold on to them until the water stopped coming in, because it would only push them back. Both escapees took deep breaths just before the tunnel filled up completely with water. It was difficult for Ed to swim because his right arm was still broken and it still hurt. Luckily Sirius saw him struggling and quickly swam over to him and held out the wooden plank, which was a great help pulling them up to the surface while Sirius and Ed continued pushing away from the prison. Ed was nearly out of breath when they reached the surface. He climbed on top of the large plank and took deep breaths before he could get a good look around himself. As it was, they were swimming further away from the prison and from shore. He looked over at Sirius... A dog. He blinked at the creature, whose claws were dug deeply into the wood. It paddled diligently with its legs, making their make-shift raft move.

"Sirius?" the teen asked.

The dog nodded.

Ed then sat on the edge and paddled with his legs. It would have been difficult to get into the water and help, because he couldn't hold on as well as the dog with only one hand. Ed had no idea how long they were doing that, but Azkaban looked only half its original size when small black dots started floating out of it.

"Shit! They're chasing us!"

Both of them paddled harder.

The dots were still for a moment and then they started getting closer and closer. Ed could now make out their shapes clearly.

_'Damn it!'_

Just when he thought they were surely done for, the black dog jumped up onto the raft and then an arm pulled him up. He felt some kind of cramping sensation and the whole scenery changed entirely. Gone were the cold sea, the gray thunder clouds and the threatening prison in the distance with its hellish cloaked guards.

Now he suddenly found himself in a forest. Birds were chirping away happily, a river was flowing and the sun was shining down through the loose layer of leaves and branches overhead. Ed heard a soft thud and quickly turned around to see that Sirius had collapsed on the ground.

"Sirius!" He called and quickly ran over to him.

"I'm fine..." He managed to say between deep breaths. "Just exhausted from using so much magic. You probably know, but dementors suck out your magic..."

"Yeah, I realized."  
_  
'You managed to escape! Hooray! You did it Ed!' _Al yelled from within his head.

Ed was kind of startled, because he had completely forgotten his brother was there._ 'Yeah, I did. All thanks to you.'_ "Hold on a moment. I'll get some water." Ed told Sirius who laid down on his back, still taking deep breaths.

Ed walked over to the river and transmuted a rock into a cup and scooped up some water. After drinking a few cups, he scooped another one and brought it back to where Sirius was now sitting upright.

"Thanks, kiddo."

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm not a kid!" He said with gritted teeth.

Sirius gave off a bark like laugh before downing the contents of the rock cup in one huge gulp. "So, how is it that you look like you're thirteen at most and yet claim you're eighteen? And why are you so young when your father has already died of old age?"

Ed thought for a while what he could say, then decided to tell him simply: "Time-travel."

"What? That's it?"

"No, actually there's a long story behind it, but can we please talk about it some other time? Where are we anyway?"

"Oh, outside some muggle village I was in once. I forgot what it was called, but they don't come in here often. They think the forest is cursed or something. So, what are you planning to do now?"

"I need some way to prove that Dumbledore is evil. And then I need to somehow get the wizarding world to believe me." Ed replied.

"That's quite an ambitious goal, considering you just broke out of prison."

"Nobody said it was going to be easy."

"Hmm... You know what? Count me in. I need to get back at him too. Killing James and Lily... That was just too much."

"Could you tell me what actually caused you to go to Azkaban?"

"Yeah, sure if you think it'll help us. Let's see... Where to start... Well, after 12 years with lots of time to think, I can safely tell you that I wasn't in a very good state for calm behavior. If you know that I switched sides, you probably know that Voldemort confronted me before he was able to reach the Potters' house. Because it was under the Fidelius charm he wouldn't have been able to find it, had nothing happened to my friends. But as it turned out, James must have already been killed, that's why he was able to enter the house and save Harry. I'm at least grateful to him for that. When I arrived at the Potters' house the next day the whole place was destroyed. I had no idea what happened there, but I was certain of one thing. Peter Pettigrew, our friend, had betrayed us. I heard Harry crying so I quickly rushed to him, but Hagrid was there already. I told him I'd take care of Harry, but he insisted he was under orders from Dumbledore to take him to his relatives' house. Like I said before, I guess I had too many thoughts of revenge in my head to register whose orders it was to take Harry away. If I had listened more carefully, then I certainly wouldn't have let him take Harry there."

Sirius sighed.

"Alright, back to the story. It was probably around then, that it occurred to me that the one who attacked was most likely Dumbledore. But as distracted as I was, I still didn't realize who had asked Hagrid to take Harry. So, I offered Hagrid my bike, told him he could keep it. I thought that if I was going to hunt down Dumbledore and Peter then I'd surely be put into Azkaban. So, I figured I wouldn't need it anymore, because no one would believe me that Dumbledore was actually the evil one. So the next day I searched for Peter. It didn't take me long to find him, but he was on a crowded muggle street. He must have anticipated me, because he whipped around really quickly and started accusing me of betraying our friends. Before I could react, he had blown up the whole street. And here, another one of my glorious examples of not being able to think out of the box: I just saw the explosion, a few pieces of Peter and some torn robes along with the corpses of around a dozen muggles. I thought he'd killed himself; it sure had looked that way. Now that I think about it, it would have been totally unreasonable for him to commit suicide. He didn't have a reason to and I do not doubt that he got away."

Ed was puzzled. "How would he have managed to escape, though? I sure don't see a way."

Sirius laughed his bark laugh again. "Of course no normal wizard could have escaped, but he is nicknamed Wormtail for a reason. You see, all three of us became Animagi during our school days."

"What!? How!?" Ed interrupted.

"Hold your horses, kid! Do you want me to finish explaining or not? His Animagus form is a rat. He probably fled into the sewers during the explosion. Damn that ratboy! I need to get my revenge on him too. Right, I'm done now. What was that you wanted to know?"

"How? How did you become Animagi? I thought, people needed to make an extremely difficult potion and go through a lot of training to get it right!"

"Well, yeah. The training is tough, no kidding. But the potion, well, there was a way around it."

"What really? How?"

"Hmmm.... I'll tell you that if you tell me how you managed to Time-Travel, I'm sure you don't have a timeturner, those things are pretty darned rare."

"What in the world is a timeturner? Argh, never mind, we don't have time for this! We can't stay here. The dementors will probably chase us."

"Right you are. So, where are we headed?"

"I don't know, I only thought up to the part where we escape."

"How about laying low first since we don't have a plan? If we could get out of this country and wait 'till the people start to forget about us then I'd be much easier to do whatever we plan on doing."

"What! We don't have so much time! What if Dumble-"

"What? You don't agree? I thought it was a good plan! Besides, I need a wand and I'm sure you would agree that I'd be good to get our hair grown back."

Ed suddenly felt embarrassed as he noticed that Sirius was almost completely bald, and so was he, most likely. "Alright, alright, you win... So? Where do you think we should go?"

"Hmm... How about Germany? Or France?"

"It's your idea, so you decide. Where are we getting a new wand from? Do you know anyone?"

"There was one guy who was quite good... Wait, I forgot his name... I think it was Gregorovitch, but I think he retired."

"Okay, and where can we find this Gregorovitch?"

"I think he lives in Germany. Should we get going?"

"Yeah, but first we need some normal looking clothes."

"And just how are we going to do that? We'll be reported no doubt. Besides, if I hide as a dog, no one will realize and we wouldn't need to get new clothes."

"Right, but don't forget that you're the only Animagus here. Even then, it's not like you're going to stay like that all the time are you?"

"Ehh, right. So what are you going to do?"

"It's simple; just help me gather some leaves and maybe some branches."

"What?! You're not going to use magic are you? What if the ministry finds us?"

"Don't worry, they can't detect my magic. I have a device to counter that."

"Right, figures, you seem to have everything we would ever need. Anyway, I don't see the point in that. But whatever you say, you're the genius with the crazy wandless magic."

Both of them started gathering fallen leaves to one spot. With a touch of his hands the pile of leaves turned into two brown muggle long sleeved shirts and two pants of which the one pair was bigger than the second. Ed then quickly changed into the new clothes.

"I just can't figure out how you're doing it." Sirius remarked now staring at the shirt.

"I could explain it to you, but by the time I'm done, the dementors would have found us and put us back into Azkaban, and I'm not looking forward to that."

Ed then transmuted the branches they had collected into a suitcase and put the second set of clothes in it.

"Are we all set to go now?"

"Nearly, I'm thinking of what we should do to the prison clothes."

"Can't you like, wash out the colors or something? Then we could still use them."

"Good idea."

"We'll have to go by foot for a while, that last apparition cost me quite a lot of my magic, and you will probably understand that I didn't have a lot to begin with."

"Yeah, I figured as much, what with you passing out."

"Hey! That wouldn't have happen to me during normal circumstances! I swear!"

Ed snorted at that comment, feeling much more cheerful now. They walked over to the river, where Sirius drank more water and Ed dunked the shirt in the water further downstream. He put his hands together and touched the shirt. In an instant the black stripes faded and the river carried away the black substance. Ed changed shirts again and repeated the process with his brown shirt.

"What did you do that for?" Sirius asked.

"It looks stupid to be wearing a brown shirt and brown pants." Ed answered simply, huffing.

"Could you do it with mine too, in that case? I really don't understand muggle fashion all that well."

Ed nodded and took out Sirius' brown shirt and did the same, then packed it back into his wooden suitcase. Sirius then transformed into a dog again and shed his clothes, indicating that Ed should do the same and pack them away as well. Ed noted that he had almost no fur, and deduced that his human state must have quite a bit influence on how his animal form would look like. He sighed and repeated the process once more.

_'Since when did alchemy become a tool to change the colors of your clothes?'_ He asked himself.

_'Well, I can't say for sure brother. But you can't deny that it's really useful for things like this, no matter how uncommon these kinds of situations are. I think it should almost be time for me to wake up again. I'll see you later, brother. Take care of yourself and please be cautious. I don't want you to get caught again.'_

_'Right, thanks for all your help Al. Take care of yourself too.'_

Sirius the dog tugged at his shirt, urging him to follow. After some quick thinking though, Ed decided to make himself a hat as well, to better hide his rather uncommon golden eyes. Sirius waited impatiently even though it didn't take long and even barked a few times.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming."

Ed followed the huge black dog through the forest along the river, which provided water for them whenever they stopped briefly to take a break. It was rather chilly with nothing more than make-shift clothing, but it was better than before in the prisoner garments. Sirius didn't seem to feel any of the cold Ed was feeling however despite his loss of fur. Instead he seemed almost happy to be up and about again. Every once in a while Sirius would stop and sniff the air and other objects around him, as if he had never seen them before. Ed had to smile, it felt so... surreal. Two high security prisoners escaping from Azkaban and then walking around as if they didn't have a care in the world, just like two little children exploring the forest for the first time. But in a way he could understand it. He wasn't quite sure how long he'd been there. While he was there it felt like such a long time, but now that he wasn't there and started reflecting on his horrible time there, it didn't feel quite as long anymore. It felt so good to breath in fresh air again instead of the murky damp air the prison had offered. It felt so good to see natural light instead of the flickering dim lights of the candles. It felt so good to walk around, instead of sitting around all day. And most of all, it felt so good to feel the warmth of the sun rays, even though it was still winter and still quite cold, instead of the freezing chill the dementors had forced upon them. The sky had turned a deep shade of red by the time they reached the end of the forest and it was rapidly getting darker.

"Sirius, I think we should stop here."

Ed was exhausted from all of the day's events and he couldn't deny that they had walked extremely slowly. On top of that they hadn't eaten anything since some time before their escape. However Sirius looked like he still wanted to continue on.

"We can't. We need to rest and eat." Ed remarked walking a ways back into the forest.

The black dog watched him for a bit, but then finally gave in and followed him back. Ed got to work with setting up a trap to get some catch some wild animals. He heard something akin to laughing and turned around to see the dog there rolling around on its back.

"I don't suppose you have a better idea?"

The dog then got onto its feet and sniffed the ground and set off. Ed shook his head and headed over to the river to see if there were any fish. By the time it was dark, Ed had caught a few fish, collected wood and made a campfire where it wouldn't be seen easily from outside of the forest. The trap did not catch anything, but Sirius found him a little later with a hare in his snout. Sirius dropped it near the fire where the fish were roasting and then pushed it closer to Ed.

"You're not trying to prove that you don't have a need to change back to your human from, are you?"

But the dog nodded and further pushed the hare to Ed. Ed just shook his head and put the hare to roast as well. They shared the fish and the hare, which was more than either of them had eaten in quite some time, and then stopped to get some sleep. Despite waking up at dawn, Ed felt it was the best sleep he'd had in a long time, and stretched contentedly. Sirius was up as well and he ran in a circle chasing his tail.

_'Maybe, he's just a little mad after staying in that place for so many years.'_ Ed thought to himself.

They set off again soon after and arrived at a small town near noon. Since they didn't have any money the only thing they could do there was verify that they were walking in the right direction.

"Hey, mister! Which way is south?" Ed asked.

The man eyed him skeptically. "Are you a traveler? Don't get many these days. South's in that direction. Where're you heading to?"

"Oh, nowhere in particular, just out to see the world."

"Really? You seem pretty young."

Ed grinded his teeth at that, but the man didn't seem to notice.

"Well, in any case, you had best be careful and watch yourself. I heard from the news on the telly that some prisoners have broken out of some jail. I forgot if they mentioned the names. Anyway, they said that they're armed and that they would attack people."

"Right, thanks for the advice." _'So, they've even informed the muggles? They must think it's quite serious. We'll probably have to hide for a long time.'_

Sirius was probably thinking the same thing, because he looked at him with what could count as a worried expression and then walked faster. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

"Oh child, are you travelling all by yourself?"

Both of them turned to see a grandma.

"No, I'm not; I'm travelling with, uh... My dog."

The old woman laughed. "Would you like to take some bread with you? You look like you haven't really eaten well recently."

"No, really, I couldn't impose on you, ma'am."

"Don't be silly! We have too much anyway, wait here..."

Ed wanted to protest, but the old lady had vanished into her house and then a few moments later had come back out with a bag of bread.

"Here, this is for you."

"Th-Thanks..."

"Don't mention it." She smiled friendly at him and he returned a shy smile, but then Sirius started pushing him with his head. Ed waved good-bye to the lady and then quickly followed Sirius who as a result of having to wait there for a while was going even faster than before. Ed almost had to run to keep up with him. When Ed thought he couldn't run anymore, Sirius suddenly halted and sat down.

"What? Finally giving me a rest?"

Sirius nodded and then started pushing his nose against the suitcase, in which Ed had stored the bread.

"Oh? So you're just hungry? Figures, you don't care about me at all."

Sirius nodded again, but he seemed to smile at the same time. Ed wondered if he was going crazy, up 'till now he had always thought that animals couldn't smile. He sat down and took a few deep breaths before he opened up the suitcase and took out a loaf of bread. He broke it in half, gave one to Sirius and ate the other half himself. Sirius didn't leave him a lot of time to eat though, since he quickly chomped down his half and then started running in circles and barking impatiently again. After Ed stubbornly refused to hurry up, since he was so tired, Sirius started bumping him with his head.

"You're a horrible slave driver, you know that?"

But Sirius didn't stop, so he didn't really have a choice but to get up and start walking again. Luckily, the big black dog didn't insist on running anymore. Near nightfall they approached another forest, which was quite convenient, since they would be more protected and harder to find in a forest than out in the open. They also managed to locate a stream. Ed decided to make some stone flasks which would serve as water bottles, since he figured they wouldn't find water all the time. To close them he transmuted some wood into cork. Sirius had gone hunting again, while he collected water.

And then something most unexpected happened...


	27. A Wandmaker?

A/N Thanks be to the kind reviewers and argh! I'm sorry I left a cliffhanger!

To aquasan13: I sometimes find it kind of difficult to get a good grasp of the characters, so it'd be good if you could tell me what exactly is not pronounced enough. It would help me a lot for this story and anything I might write in the future! Thanks in advance!

Ed and Sirius will change countries in this chapter and I just thought it would be weird if people everywhere speak English, so I'll be making them speak their languages and I'll just put the translated text in brackets, at least for the people that will exclusively speak a different language. Thanks for your understanding and if you think it's a bad idea, feel free to say so.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter or anything associated with either of them. Furthermore, towns that appear in this chapter a purely fictional (at least I hope so).

* * *

A huge owl swooped down and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him to the ground.

"Oof!"

Just moments after that a dementor dashed past the spot he had previously occupied. The forest turned a menacing cold and plants froze all around the evil being. Immediately, he got up and ran, but the dementor had managed to turn around and block his way. The forest blurred and instead Alphonse's broken armor appeared. A rattling noise filled his ears.

_'It's just a dream! Al's safe!'_

He tried turning the other way but the dementor grabbed his shoulder. Out of pure instinct, he put his hands together, quickly calculated the components of the human skeleton and slammed his left hand on the dementors face. The familiar blue lights flashed, the dementor howled and crumbled to dust. Ed stood there breathing heavily and stared at the pile of dust on the floor, somewhat dazed. It was as if time had stopped, he didn't know what to do. A hoot tore him out of his stupor. Everything still seemed frozen, there had to be more dementors around.

_'Gotta find Sirius.'_

Quickly, Ed picked up his suitcase and took off in the direction he thought Sirius had gone in.

"Sirius!" He yelled while keeping a look out for the big black dog.

It just so happened that in his haste to find a dog, Ed crashed into the man.

"Are the dementors here? Have they found us?"

"Sirius! We have to get out of here! Can you apparate again?"

"I'll try, grab on!"

Ed held tight onto Sirius' arm. Just before Sirius could apparate, the owl's huge talons clasped tightly onto Ed's shoulder. And so, all three vanished with nothing but a soft pop.

* * *

In almost no time at all they had popped up in a small and deserted alleyway.

"Argh, where are we now?"

"In Hithren, it's a port town. Well at least I hope so. Stupid owl! Who said you could tag along!"

The owl hooted and then glared at him in an offended manner. That was when Ed realized whose owl it was and that it was carrying something.

"I know that owl; it must have been looking for us. But do you think it's safe to take the letter?"

Sirius looked back at him and tilted his head here and there, finally he nodded. "I suppose so. Unless it's some ministry guy's owl."

The owl stuck out its leg for him. A string kept what looked like an edition of the daily prophet and an envelope neatly in place. Ed tugged on the string, making both items drop to the ground. Quick as a flash, Sirius grabbed the newspaper and started flipping through it. The owl took off shortly after. Ed meanwhile was having difficulty opening the letter with one hand.

"So, whose owl is it?"

"Draco's."

"Draco who?"

"If I told you you'd start cursing."

"What? How would you know that, short stuff?"

Ed grinded his teeth. "For the last time, I'm not short. Everyone else is just too damned tall. And I'm still growing damn it."

Ignoring Ed's defense, Sirius continued. "So? What's his last name?"

"Malfoy."

"What? The kid of that manipulative bast..."

"I told you you'd start cursing."

"Alright, I'll stop. Just to prove you wrong."

"How so? You've already done it."

"So? What did he send you?"

"It's a little difficult to open up the letter with just one hand, you know."

"Oh, let me help you with that. What did you do to your arm anyway?"

"It's part of the reason I got sent to Azkaban, but it's a long story, I might tell you some other time."

"Oh, well. I guess it can wait 'till we're out of here. Here you go." Sirius handed the now open letter back to Ed.

"Thanks." Ed sat on the ground and pulled out the letter from the envelope.

It read: "Hey Wanna-Be-Alchemist! I heard you're travelling again. I hope you're doing fine. Since you seem to be very confused all the time. I'll do you a favor and tell you today's date. It's the 31st of January, as I wrote this letter in the morning it should have arrived on the same day. I also sent you a copy of the daily prophet, I know you don't get in contact much with the rest of the world, but you should watch out for those people who escaped! From your one and only Wanna-Be-Pure-Blood!"

Just when he finished reading the letter, he turned his head to see Sirius reading over his shoulder.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Anyway, doesn't seem too bad, this one. Are you sure that he's Lucius' son?"

"Absolutely positive."

"Well, it's good to know that the next generation doesn't seem too bad."

"I don't think we're any better than your generation. What house were you in anyway?"

"What? You can't tell? I was in Gryffindor. How about you and Malfoy?"

"Slytherin."

Sirius took a step back and his jaw dropped open. No matter how Ed looked at it, it looked comical.

"What?! I would have never thought-"

"What? Voldemort was in Slytherin and I heard Dumbledore was in Gryffindor. You really shouldn't judge people the same way the sorting hat does. It's unhealthy and it basically splits the world in four."

"Right..."

"What's in the papers?"

"It looks like they're tailing us. But they don't seem to have any idea where we're headed. And the public doesn't really want to believe it. 'Cause no one's ever escaped from Azkaban and there's only a picture of me. Seems like there aren't any pictures of you at all, only a hazy description. Short with long golden hair it says. They didn't even mention your broken arm. No matter, we should keep going. The dementors are definitely not happy that some of their food has escaped. Oh yeah, I figured I could teach you how to become an Animagi, but we should really just concentrate on getting to safety first. Who knows how much time we'd need?"

"So? What's our plan? Are we taking a boat or are we apparating again?"

"We don't really have the money to get a boat, and boats are slow. On the other hand, I have never been to the continent before, so I really have no idea where exactly we could apparate to."

"So doesn't that mean we just have to take a boat?"

"Yup."

"How're we getting the necessary money?"

"Don't ask me! It's your turn to think of a plan. Oh yeah, just call me Snuffles."

Sirius then proceeded to change back into a dog, which ended the conversation rather abruptly.

"You can transform with your clothes on?"

The dog just shrugged and scratched 'later' into the floor. It was now up to Ed to come up with a plan for getting money.

_'Stealing money is out of the question, we just can't do that. I probably wouldn't be recognized, but getting a part-time job just takes too long. We need something quick. I could just make a boat, but I'd need some wood for that. Where could we get wood?'_ "Do you have any idea where we could get some wood?"

Sirius nodded and indicated that Ed should follow him out onto the street. Ed thought something was odd and then he realized what.

"You lead a leash, Snuffles."

Sirius looked annoyed at that, but he seemed to see the point. Ed looked around, but didn't find anything he could use as a leash. So he took out one of the shirts and transmuted it behind a trash can. It wouldn't be very strong, but at least he had one and Sirius wasn't likely to go haywire in the middle of the street. After tying it around Sirius' neck they walked out and more or less blended into the crowd. No one looked at them twice, which Ed was glad for. They walked casually, stopping every once in a while to let Sirius sniff the ground like any other normal dog would and also keeping a look out for any signs of wizards and dementors. Eventually, they reached the outskirts of town where some lone trees grew.

_'It would surely be weird if the trees just disappeared, but it's probably our only choice and it's quite close to the sea. We still need to stock up on food. It'll probably take us maybe twelve hours, generously rounded up, to get to France.'_ "Should we come back later?"

Sirius nodded, so they headed back into the town. Ed made his way to a library, Sirius had no idea what for, but decided to just play along. Ed tied him up to a pole outside of the library and went in. It didn't take long to find what he was looking for: a book on currencies. He flipped it open and looked for pictures of British Pounds and German Marks. He studied the pictures for a long while before he was satisfied that he knew every single detail on the bills and coins. He put the book back where it belonged and then took Sirius back to the alleyway they had landed in after their second Apparition. The teen then dug around in the trash can for some old newspapers and in the process he found a compass too. After checking and making sure that it was functioning, he stuck it in his pocket and continued rummaging around. Then hoping that he had the right image in his mind, after one inaudible clap and a flash later, Ed had a few bills in his hands.

"Could you stay here for a while?"

The dog made a sort of pouting expression, but sat down and laid his head on his legs. Ed stuffed the counterfeit notes in his pocket and proceeded to find a clothes store. Eventually he found one and bought a red jacket, another pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt. Next he went to a grocer's to get more bread, some dried meat and a water bottle. Now that he had everything he needed, he went back to where he left Sirius and the rest of his sparse belongings. He opened up the suitcase and packed all the new things in there.

"Sorry, Snuffles. I couldn't buy a jacket for you, that would have looked too weird."

Sirius shook his head, as if trying to say that it was fine. Ed took Sirius on the leash again and walked out of town to spend the rest of the day in a place without people. To make sure they wouldn't get detected it was best to get their boat in the night and then it was best not to be seen, because they would surely be questioned. Especially because muggle authorities were made aware of the escapees and it would be weird for a child to be wandering around at night. If they were found by wizards it would be even worse, because they were likely to be recognized. Luckily, no such thing happened and they returned well past nightfall to the group of trees they had chosen. Ed hoped that either no one would notice the extremely bright light the transmutation would cause or that they would be long gone by the time people actually arrived. Sirius had transformed back to help row the boat, once it was made.

"Right, so after we make the boat and oars, we push it into the water and get out of here as fast as possible."

"That's the plan."

At least the weather was on their side, it was very foggy, which meant that it would be harder to see them. Ed pictured the boat in his mind, going over the image several times just to make sure that really nothing was missing and that they really had enough wood to make it. Although, it would have been easier, having to transmute more than once would be a waste of time, especially since it was highly likely they would be seen. Taking a deep breath Ed put his hands together and touched the tree. The familiar light shined harshly in the dark. As soon as the rowing boat was formed both of them were already pushing it into the sea. Ed tossed his luggage into the boat shortly before jumping in himself followed by Sirius. Both of them picked up an oar each and rowed like madmen. Surely enough, hazy lights appeared near the coast and some distant shouting could be heard. By this point of time, Ed and Sirius were already well out at sea. Sirius breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Whew, made it."

"Now, we just have to hope that they weren't wizards and that they don't assume that whatever had caused the flash of blue light had gone out to sea."

"And also that dementors don't chase us."

"Yeah, we can only hope. Let's just keep rowing for now."

* * *

By noon the next day they had managed to get to a deserted stretch of shore in France where Ed dismantled the boat again, so as not to leave traces. Sirius turned back into a dog and from there they traveled over Belgium to Germany. It took them nearly five weeks during which Ed completely forgot about his Birthday yet again. Some way or another, they managed to keep enough food around at all times and to apparate across country boarders to avoid the muggle authorities. Also, it seemed like the British Ministry of Magic did not think that either of them would try to escape to this continent and thus had not informed any of the local ministries about their outbreak, which made traveling much easier. This allowed Sirius to travel in human shape, which made them seem less out of place. Along the way Ed transmuted a big cloak for Sirius since he couldn't buy one. Although Ed was still planning to grow his hair long again by magical means, he was no longer nearly bald. Sirius turned out to be quite the fun companion when he wasn't scared of being put back into a horrible prison. Once in a while he would tell Ed stories of his glorious days in school with Harry's father and another man named Remus Lupin, he mentioned that Peter Pettigrew was also in their little group, but tried not to mention him, because when he did he always started cursing.

Eventually, they arrived in the town Sirius thought Gregorovitch lived in. But they couldn't find him anywhere.

"Excuse, me. We're traveling and I think we're kind of lost. Would you mind telling us where we are?" Sirius asked a lady in that town.

"Es tut mir leid, aber ich spreche kein Englisch. (I'm sorry, but I don't speak English.)" The woman bowed apologetically and walked away leaving Sirius confused.

"What did she say?"

"How should I know? She was probably speaking German." Ed said rolling his eyes. _'I guess I should count myself lucky that Amestrian seems to be the same as English.'_

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot about languages."

"Maybe we can try and find a dictionary and a grammar book..." To their surprise the lady came back with an older man and pointed at them. Ed's heart skipped a beat and he feared that they were found out. But the man merely nodded at her and approached them with a friendly smile on his face.

"Hello! You not speaking German, yes?"

Sirius nodded at him. "I'm sorry, but we are looking for Mr. Gregorovitch, he's a distant relative of mine." He made sure to speak extra slowly, so the German man might understand him better.

"Ah! Herr Gregorovitch! Er ist vor langem weggezogen.. He... ehh... Move out long time! No more live here. Move to Althausen!"

"Oh, I see. Ehh... We don't know where Althausen is. Could you show us on a map?"

The man looked confused until he heard the word map. "Ah! Yes! Map! Come, come."

Ed and Sirius looked at each other and then followed the man to his little house. They waited at the front door for him to find his map.

"Here be us. Here be Gregorovitch." The man explained as he pointed at the places.

"Thank you very much. Where can we get a map?"

"This town no selling books and maps. You go that road, reach bigger town where selling books."

"Thanks."

"You welcome."

And so they headed off to the next town to find a map and some language tools.

"Since we're going to buy things, why not get some new clothes and food too?"

"Good idea, but we'll need money and quite a lot at that."

"You could just make some."

"You know, I don't enjoy making fake money. It should technically be illegal."

"Yeah, but we really don't have any other choice, do we? And it's better than stealing outright. We could always try to get part-time jobs later."

The money was made and the items were bought, so they set off for their next destination.

* * *

It didn't take them too long to get to Althausen, where Sirius finally got to test out his new language abilities.

"Entschaldigang! (Excuse me!)" He said to try and get someone's attention.

"Was kann ich für Sie tun? (How can I help you?)"

"Wier suchen Herr Gregorovitch. (We're looking for Mr. Greogorovitch.)"

The man looked at them strangely then looked around and then turned back to them. He then took out a wand from his pocket and then used some kind of spell on himself.

"Is this better?"

"Oh, you're a wizard."

"Yes and I figure you are one too if you're looking for Gregorovitch."

"Ah yes, do you know where he lives?"

"Yes, it's just over there. Let me bring you there. But it's kind of odd; you aren't here to get wands, are you? You must have heard that he had retired quite some time ago."

"Yeah, we heard."

"Oh, okay. Oh yeah, he speaks English, so don't worry."

Sirius thanked him and then knocked on the door of the cottage. It stood outside of the little village with lots of green land around it.

"Wer ist da? (Who's there?)"

"We're looking for Mr. Gregorovitch."

The door opened to reveal a heavy-set man with thick bushy white hair and beard.

"Who are you?"

"We've come to ask you if you're in the mood to sell wands to us."

"I suppose you came from Great Britain? I thought there was a good wandmaker there, eh, what was his name again?"

"Ollivander."

"Ah yeah, good 'ol Ollivander."

"Please, we have some circumstances that don't really allow us to get wands from there." Ed interjected.

The retired wandmaker raised an eyebrow at them. "And what kind of circumstances would these be?"

"It would be nice if we could talk about this somewhere more private." Sirius suggested, hinting at him to let them in.

"Hmm... Alright."

The house wasn't particularly special, just a comfy looking cottage good for about four people.

"So? What is this about?"

"Where should we start?" Sirius asked Ed.

"Let's explain from the beginning... The British Ministry is corrupt and there's reason to believe that there's just one person behind it..."

* * *

After a long and tedious explanation Gregorovitch seemed to ponder all that was said.

"Dumbledore, huh? I've never met him, but I've never heard anyone say such things about him. But of course I've heard about his involvement in many things. I guess I'll believe you for now." Ed breathed out a sigh of relief. "Too bad though, I don't have any more wands on me. I sold every last one of them before I retired."

"What!? Why didn't you just tell us?" Ed snapped.

"What? Do you think I'm turning you away? Since you came all the way from Great Britain, it would be a huge waste of time if you had to go and search for another wandmaker. Anyway, I was getting kind of bored, so if you're not in any kind of rush, why not stay at my cottage while I see if I can make you some good wands. Of course it's not going to be free." Sirius was about to say something, but Gregorovitch stopped him. "I understand of course that you will not have any money on you if you've just broken out of jail."

"So, what do you mean it's not going to be free?" Ed asked a little impatiently.

"Well, it's obviously going to take me some time to even make one wand and you can't actually expect the first one to fit you, although it does happen sometimes. So, I was thinking you could help me herd my sheep and cattle. And also I've got a lot of land, so I was thinking of farming, so you'll have to help me with that too, but hey, not every wandmaker is willing to help two 'criminals'."

"Ehh, right... Can't we help you make the wands? That would speed up the process."

"No! Wandmaking takes a lot of skill and precision. I'd be happy to show you, but you're not allowed to help and anyway I need to get materials first. Do we have a deal?"

"Yeah, alright."

"I guess we have no choice."

"Okay! Then let's get started, first I'll show you how to take care of the animals and then how to do the field. Let's go!"

* * *

After showing them how things were done, he had called one of the other villagers, who was trained in medical magic to come and heal Ed's arm.

"Also, vergiss nicht, ich will dass du deinen Arm mindestens einen Tag lang nicht benutzts. Wenn du vorhattest den alten Mann zu helfen, schlage ich vor du überlässt die Arbeit mal deinem Kumpel. (Right, don't forget, I don't want you using that for at least a day. So if you're planning to help the old man, I suggest you let your friend help him for the next day.)"

And so Ed got to stay in the house and tidy up a room for them to stay in, while Gregorovitch wrote an order for wand materials.

"Do you live here all by yourself?"

"Yeah, but the other villagers are nice. I usually go down to the pub on weekend evenings. But I'll probably be busier for a while, so I don't really mind the two of you staying here." On the second day of their stay, the weather was warm and the sun was shining and Ed was out plowing the field with his newly healed arm. He had just had the pleasure to find out how extremely tiring it actually was. Gregorovitch was sitting in a chair under an umbrella by his house and reading a book. That was when Ed had an idea, so he walked up to the old man.

"Hmm? I don't suppose you're done yet?"

"No, actually, I'm far from it. But I have a question, is this like a wizarding village?"

"Oh, yes. But it hasn't been made unplottable, because it is mostly a farming village and selling our goods to muggles is one of our main options to get to money. They would be really confused if they were buying goods from places they don't know about."

"But, nobody would think it strange if there were strange light flashes out here at your house?"

"Technically not, there aren't any muggle villages too close by. What are you planning? I don't suppose you can use magic without a wand."

"Yeah, that's impossible."

Ed then walked back out onto the field, clapped his hands together loudly; like he hadn't done in quite a while and slammed them onto the floor. Instantly, the whole place shone a blinding blue and the whole field was plowed.

"Okay, now I'm done." He said swiping his hands with a large toothy grin plastered on his face.

Gregorovitch's jaw dropped. "How did you-"

"Before you say anything. It's not magic."

"If you can do that, then why do you need a wand?"

"Because it's not magic. And I need magic. So I need a wand."

"I guess, I can't say no to that."

"Wow, that was fast! So are you going to explain to me how you're doing that?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah sure, after you teach me some Animagi."

"Right, I did say I'd teach you. Hey, Greg? May I borrow your wand?"

"Greg? Show some respect, please! You can borrow it, but if any harm comes to it I want at least three hundred galleons in compensation. It's on the table in my office."

"Right, don't worry, we won't harm it."

Ed sat down in the grass to recover from the physical work he had done before he came up with his brilliant idea.

"I've found it." Sirius shouted as he came back.

"What took you so long?"

"I was just trying to imagine what animal best suited a small guy like you."

"WHAT THE HELL! I'M NOT SHORT DAMNIT! YOU'RE JUST A FREAK OF NATURE!"

"Calm down, Ed. It's just extremely hilarious to see you shout like that." Ed narrowed his eyes at him dangerously.

"So? What're we going to do with a wand?"

"Although it would be much easier to practice with a wand, there's no way in hell I'm going to pay him three hundred Galleons, so we're only going to use this wand as much as we really need to. The first step to becoming an Animagi, is to find out what animal lurks inside of you, or what fits you best. If you could just stay still for a while and let me cast this on you, then we can find out what you are."

"So, there's a spell for finding that out? Why didn't I find out about that from the books on this topic?"

"I have no idea, but I found it in one of the old musty books of one of my ancestors. Alright, if you could stand up and stay still."

Sirius waved the wand and pointed it at Ed. A brilliant red swirly light came out and spun around Ed once and then stopped in front of him again. Then it took shape.

"A lion?"

"Not bad. Okay, that was the easy part. Now comes the difficult one. You have to imagine yourself as a lion. Studying them would help, but we don't really have access to a lot of books here, so you'll just have to try your best."

"And after I do that?"

"Then you have to use your magic to make yourself change."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I'm not telling you until you've done the other step thoroughly. If you don't take this step seriously, you could get permanently disfigured. That's why you have to focus on this first. There's no way I can beat Dumbledore with a cripple as my partner. So in the meanwhile, I'm going to check out the surrounding area."

He then transformed into his dog form with ease and scurried off. Ed lay down in the grass and closed his eyes, trying to focus on his task. But somehow, just lying there made him feel as if he were back home. The same smell of grass and nature hung in the air.  
_  
'You have to pull yourself together, Ed! Think what does a lion do? I've never seen a lion before, unless I count that weird Chimera one that fake priest made. Okay, lions are wild cats. That means they're almost the same as cats. How are cats built? What do they eat? What do they like to do? How do they move?' _While thinking of these and many other questions, Ed didn't realize how late it got.

By the time he opened his eyes again, it was dark out.

"Ed, are you coming in to eat? The food's going to get cold." Sirius called.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

Dinner at Gregorovitch's was fairly simply, they had bread, a bowl of vegetable soup and occasionally some meat.

"Good news, guys. The materials will be arriving tomorrow, so I can get started after measuring Sirius. Since you've already done all the work that needs doing on the field, you just have to take care of the animals." I should have finished my first wand in maybe four days."

"That's good. Since we don't have so much work to do, I should have enough time for the training. When are you explaining the next step to me?"

"Forget it, I'm not showing you for at least a week. And you better take it seriously, because I have no idea what to do if something goes wrong."

And so Ed's long days of boredom began.


	28. The Secret of Magic?

A/N: I can tell you how much I look forward to reviews every time I post a chapter...

to WhyDoICareAnymore : Yes, I do speak German. But I still find it a very complicated language...

Disclaimer: I don't own either of the series and anything associated with them.

* * *

Four days later, Gregorovitch came out to the field where Ed and Sirius were looking after the cattle and sheep.

"I've done it. The first wand! Here, Sirius, try it out."

Sirius took the wand in his hand and waved it. A small cloud of white smoke puffed out of the wand tip.

"Hmm... No, that won't do. Probably needs a fiercer core..." He wandered back to his cottage, mumbling to himself.

Ed just shrugged and watched a cat ducked in the grass, ready to pounce at a black bird sitting on the fence.

"Do you know anything about lions, Sirius?"

"Not a lot. Only that they live together in what people call 'prides'. The lion is Gryffindor's mascot animal, so naturally it stands for bravery. Oh, I think I read once that male lions may eat the cubs of other lions, to ensure that they stay in the leader position."

"Does their behavior differ a lot from that of ordinary house cats?" Ed questioned further while watching the cat take another swipe at the bird.

"I think that all house cats chase smaller animals, while male lions only hunt when they don't have a pride or when there's not enough food, or something along those lines. So? What about your magic? When are you going to spill the beans?"

"It's not magic, okay? It's alchemy, an exact science. Now's as good a time as any to tell you, I guess. In order to gain something, you have to give up something of equal value. And it's not about how important the thing is to you that you are giving up, it's about the material value. Like, you can't say that your teddy bear is worth a lot to you and then change it into a pile of gold. Similarly, you can't change gold into bread."

"Doesn't sound that difficult. Teach me."

"That's just because you haven't factored in the 'exact science' part. You have to have calculated everything right down to the last nanogram perfectly for both the input and output and they have to be equal. You have to know exactly what you're dismantling and where you're placing each and every atom in your product."

Sirius opened and closed his jaw multiple times and then finally he said: "Okay, now that sounds much more like that complex science stuff that muggles do."

"Maybe, because it _is_ a muggle science."

"Why don't muggles use it then? It's quite useful if you think about it."

"It's difficult to learn and doing so many calculations is not exactly easy either."

"So, are you saying that you're supposed to be a genius?"

"Of course I am." Ed stated, his chest swelling with pride and a cocky grin on his face.

"Figures... By the way, have you even started thinking what we could do to show that Dumbledore is evil?"

"There's that potion, Veritaserum. I was thinking of using that."

"What a potion? I can't brew potions."

"I was never thinking of letting you brew anything. I wanted to brew some myself, but I've only been aware of magic for slightly less than two years, so I haven't even had any time. And I don't have any brewing equipment in the moment."

"Great, so that option goes down the drain..."

"Hmmm... My foster parents would have some and I'm pretty sure they would shelter us. But of course it's a great risk to them."

"Well, since dementors can't track animals as well, it wouldn't be such a risk to them if we just stayed in animal form for the majority of the time, but that would only work if you can master it in say two months. But I'm warning you beforehand, it's not going to be easy, even with me giving you pointers. It took me and James the better part of three years to learn it, and everyone knows we were the cleverest around."

"Give me a break, it's already the millionth time you've said that."

"But it's true! The only time we really messed up, okay it was actually me, was when that greasy haired, hook nosed Slytherin kid in our year snooped around too much in our business. I almost got him killed, luckily James stepped in. Although we didn't like each other from the start, I reckon he hated me to the core from that day on."

"Why? What happened?"

"Ahh... I can't tell you that, because it involves a few secrets that I shouldn't be giving away without Remus' consent. Anyway, get back to training."

"Okay, okay, but I don't even get what I'm supposed to do now. You just said: 'Imagine yourself as a lion!' and I've been doing that for the past few days with what little I actually do know about lion! This exercise is getting so mundane, I could probably do it in my sleep!"

"That's true, and I guess there isn't as much information about lions as there is information about dogs and other animals common to the region. Well, we could ask Greg if there are any books on animals around somewhere."

"I'll go do that right now."

"Hey, wait! You're supposed to help me herd the sheep! Aw shoot... He left the big bad dog alone with the sheep. Sheesh..."

* * *

Ed found Greg, as they've been calling him because it was much less complicated than Gregorovitch, in his workshop, carefully trying to cut the wand he had made previously for Sirius open.

"Hey Greg! Do you know where I could find books about animals?"

"I told you two to stop calling me that! What animals are you looking for anyway?"

"Lions, specifically."

"You'd probably have to go to the next town, like I told you, this is a farming town. The only things we read are the papers and instruction menus."

"What's the quickest way there?"

"The Floo. Now stop disturbing me, I'm trying to work here."

"Sorry about that. Is your house connected to the Floo system?"

"Yes, but you can't use it unless you're going to help me do some grocery shopping."

"I don't suppose you need to do shopping today?"

"No, I don't." The old man then sighed.

"But I could use a hand here."

Ed was a little surprised, since the man had not wanted them to help when they first asked. "What do you need?"

"I'm an old man and this needs to be done precisely. I don't really know if you have a steady hand and I don't like asking help from someone inexperienced, but could you help me open this up? I need to exchange the core. You have to be very careful though, you must not damage the core already in it, otherwise its magic might come out and seep into the wood, making it unable to accept any other core."

Ed picked up the knife Gregorovitch had been using and after holding it for a while, he put it down again.

"What wood is this?"

"Hawthorn, why?"

Clap, flash, it split nicely into two leaving the wand's core in the middle unharmed. Ignoring, Gregorovitch's astonishment, Ed took a closer look at the core.

"What kind of core is this?"

"Unicorn hair, but for people with a personality like Sirius', it should have been obvious to me not to use such a tame core. Maybe I could use your help more often in here and I guess I could pay you a bit for it."

"Seriously? But, you aren't even getting anything out of it!"

"Ha! That's you think! Of course I'm getting something out of it! The satisfaction of making wands, I don't expect a greenhorn to know about such things though." He smiled at Ed.

Ed practically ran out of the house, having money opened up a lot more options.

"Really? That's great. But that means I'll have to be out here all by myself? That's lame. And what about books? Did you ask?" Sirius asked after Ed told him about the latest turn of events.

"Yeah, but he said that the closest was the next settlement. There's a Floo connection there, but he doesn't want us using his powder unless we're going there to do some grocery shopping. At dinner Gregorovitch handed Sirius another wand. "Fourteen inches, dragon heartstring and hawthorn. Try it."

"That was fast." Sirius said, before taking the wand and examining it. A flick caused a chair to smash itself against the wall.

"No, no... Too imbalanced... It seems rather aggressive now... But I'm certain the core is the right one, a tougher wood... Ash perhaps?"

All throughout dinner he kept on mumbling about wood stuff, which Ed and Sirius happily ignored. When they were almost done, he stopped and looked up at them thoughtfully.

"I regret to say that I believe that Ash wood would work best."

"What do you mean you regret?" Ed asked.

"Well, I don't have any on me. So I'll have to order some. How about you two do some grocery shopping tomorrow? I'll look after the animals."

"What, really!? That's awfully kind of you." Sirius piped in, happy to get away from the sheep he'd been watching for the majority of the last few days.

"Yes, yes. I shall pass you a shopping list tomorrow. You can spend as much time there as you want. And you can help me when the material gets here, Edward."

"Sure. Is there a post office in that town?"

"Yes, there is. Are you thinking of sending a letter to your family?"

"No, not exactly. I wanted to send it to someone I know in Scotland, but I don't have any money."

"I could pay you in advance for helping me, so you could send off your letter, how about that?"

"That's great, but why are you doing so much for us, Greg?" Ed asked a little skeptically.

"Stop calling me that! As for an explanation, wand making is my passion. When I realized that it was getting more and more difficult for me to make wands because my hands were getting shaky, I had decided to retire instead of ruining the reputation of my wands. You can't imagine how happy I am that although I am retired people still want me to make wands for them. Initially, I was afraid I would disappoint you because the wands wouldn't be good. But if I have excellent help such as yours, then I feel fully confident about the wands. Now hurry up and wash the dishes, you still have a letter to write."

* * *

So the next day Ed and Sirius stepped through the Floo headed to a lively wizarding pub in Schwarzenach, the next closest town. Sirius wanted to give Ed as much time to look for information as possible, so he left him at the library first thing and then went to look for a grocer's and the post office. Although Ed was a little worried that Sirius might do something stupid because he wasn't very familiar with muggle things, he wasn't willing enough to go along with him. The library was much bigger than Ed had expected it to be and there were a fair amount of people browsing books even so early in the morning. Most of the books were in German, so Ed had to find a dictionary before he could start looking for a book on lions. He hadn't had a lot of time to look into the dictionary they bought because Sirius had monopolized it for most of the time. But it didn't take him long to get fully absorbed into the books, even though it was a real hassle to check up all the words before he could actually understand what they meant. By the time he looked up again to check the time Sirius was looking over his shoulder.

"Hey, Ed. Why don't we get something to eat?"

"Why? I just started."

"Man, you really get engrossed in your work don't you?"

"What? What are you talking about? What time is it?"

Sirius sighed and shook his head. "When I came by at lunch time to ask you to eat something you wouldn't even respond. And now I've been here for at least half an hour and you don't even notice that you haven't eaten anything since breakfast? Ed, it's already 5 o'clock. Come on, let's go back. I bet Greg's worried that we've run off." He patted Ed on the back and then helped to replace the various books Ed had taken for his research back onto the shelves.

The moment they were back another wand was shoved into their faces.

"I know, I know! I told you I was going to watch the sheep, but then I decided to start on Edward's new wand. Here, try this!"

"Are you sure we should try this here?"

"Of course! Why in the world wouldn't we try it here?"

"I have bad experience with wands, apparently not many of them like me. So, there were all kinds of explosions the last time I got a new wand."

"Alright then, let's go out."

The moment Gregorovitch handed the wand to Ed, it millions of tiny blue sparks erupted from its tip and then the wand exploded. All three of them were speechless.

Sirius was the first to break out of his stupor. "I don't understand. Colored sparks are usually a sign that they have accepted you, right? Greg, why did the wand destroy itself?"

But Gregorovitch just shook his head in a dazed manner. "I have no idea."

That night, Ed found that he couldn't sleep. His own words echoed in his mind. _'Not many wands like me. Is it because I'm not supposed to be in this world? Because I'm not supposed to have and use magic? Or because I'm a scientist and deep down I'm still skeptical of magic?'_ He sighed and tried to calm his mind by going through the animal exercises again.

* * *

"Boo! Get up! I've decided to take your training a step further! Come on! Get up!" Ed used his hand to swat his human alarm clock. "Hey! What was that for? I was just trying to get you up, shrimp!"

"Who're you calling... smaller than an ant... Go away... You're annoying..." Ed mumbled in his half sleeping state. And then what Sirius said finally clicked in his mind. "Wha-"

Bang.

He had tried to sit up too fast and didn't see that Sirius was bending himself over him and their heads had collided.

"Ouch! What did you do that for."

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

"It sure looked like you did! Ah well, look, hurry and get dressed and get a few slices of toast, then you can come and keep me and the sheeps company."

Ed wasted no time getting dressed and a few minutes later he was running with two slices of toast in his mouth and another in his hand towards Sirius who was entertaining the flock of sheep.

"... And then they lived happily ever after." Sirius finished and the sheep bleated and walked away.

Ed raised his eyebrow at Sirius.

"Ready to get started, short stuff?"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SMALLER THAN A FLEA, YOU FLEA BAG!"

"It's good that you're awake now, but could you try not to shout? The sheep don't like it."

"And how would you know that?"

"I was getting to that. You see, Animagi can communicate with animals to some extent."

"What really?"

"Yes, duh. Else I wouldn't be telling you this. Now stop interrupting me. Ahem, as I was saying, you can communicate with animals. But their form of communication is not at all like that of humans. They don't use words, more like, wills. You have to try and express what you want without using words."

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Well, it's actually not that difficult, you just have to use your eyes. As the saying goes: the eyes are the windows to your soul. Anyway, I was just trying to make you understand that animals are indeed much simpler beings than humans, so in your task to transform into an animal you're not allowed to have too complicated thoughts like: I have to brew an epic potion to bring Dumbledore's evil deeds to the light! Yeah, you can't think of stuff like that. That's also part of the reason you had to do the meditating for such a long time. So, we're going to start off with meditating again and you should try and focus on simple thoughts like hunting or sleeping or something similar."

"And how long do I have to do this?"

"Tell me if you think you've done it successfully. And don't try to lie to me, I know how difficult it is and it won't help you in the slightest."

As simple as it sounded it was difficult to imagine being an animal and only think of simple thoughts an animal would have. Thoughts like 'What time is it?' or 'I wonder if everyone is okay.' kept pushing themselves to the front of his bored mind. For some reason a picture of a small kitten in the cold winter rain in Central flashed through his mind. The simplest of thoughts. A thought he was well acquainted with. A thought or rather an emotion he knew he could focus on completely. Survival.

"I'm done."

Sirius who had been looking at the sheeps on the meadow turned his head and looked toward him.

"About time too. You've been at it for two hours. Moving on to more lecturing, although it should be common knowledge, not many people realize that magic is not driven by words or brute strength, but rather by emotions or focused thoughts. That's why people actually use words: They reinforce thoughts. So, you have to summon your magic and warp it using the thought you just focused on while having the image of your animal in your head, so you can change into your Animagus form. With those components you will have set the type, direction and strength of the magic, which is really all any spell needs."

Ed realized that contrary to his looks, Sirius was quite knowledgable in the field of magic. Or at least the facts that deal with Animagus magic.

"Wait, I have a question. What is the difference between this type of magic and actual Transfiguration?"

"Transfiguration is a forced transformation, it's unnatural. And this type is not really forced, your body is pretty much tuned in to the animal of your soul. That's why you can't transform into anything else, because any other shape would be forced."

Ed pondered this information for a moment before asking his next question. "How exactly does summoning my magic work?" In all honesty he knew, but he did want to see how thoroughly Sirius had studied this field.

"Hmmm... Well, figure it out for yourself. I can't explain everything to you."

"Not even a tip?"

"Ehh... You have to focus your magic into your center and not your wand or hands in this case." Just then one of the sheep ran too far away from the group.

"I'll handle them. You concentrate. The sooner you master it and the faster we get wands the faster we'll be outta here." With that he headed off to guide the sheep back to the flock. Ed sat down on the grass and closed his eyes. Holding on to the animal he would change into while keeping the emotions bound to the thoughts and finally using it to warp the magic. Everything made sense; it was logical and used logical procedure, even if in an illogical field. Ed found it pretty easy to keep a picture of a lion in his mind while only having the survival factor on his mind, but he had no idea how he was going to do something complex like bringing forth his magic while keeping the thoughts simple. And that in itself was actually the illogical part, if you keep yourself focused on one thing it's nearly impossible to do complex magic wandlessly where a high amount of concentration was needed anyway.

"Argh! This is so complicated! I don't get it!" He yelled towards the sky while throwing his fists towards it.

So, the only option left to him was to do one thing after another. This meant that he had to decide an order in which he would perform each action.  
_  
'I have to summon the magic first, that's obvious. But then I'd have to hold it there, if that even makes sense. And then I have to make sure I picture the animal in my head and have the survival thought in place. It would work out in that order, but can I even hold magic ready for use like that? Gotta test it out.'_

He put his hands together and pictured the circle, but he didn't have any equation in his mind. He pictured a stream, a flow of energy and directed it towards his chest. Instantly he felt some kind of warmth originating from about where the heart was. But it was difficult to hold it there he needed to focus on it, but he didn't really need to keep the images of a stream in his mind that directed the energy. Slowly and making sure he was still focused on holding his magic where it was, he tried to imagine a lion in action. But as soon as he did it his focus on his magic diminished and the magic dissipated. He tried a few more times but every time wielded the same results.

"Grah! This is frustrating me!" And then he finally opened his eyes to realize that it was way past lunch time already. Sirius was sitting beside him with a bowl of salad and a flask of water in his hand and another one beside a second bowl on the floor.

"Back on earth? Here's your lunch. I took the liberty of taking it out here for you."

"Thanks." Ed picked up the bowl and started eating.

"So, how's your training coming along? Any progress?"

"Yeah, mental progress. But I can't put the theory to use. I'm certain it's right, but there's just something I'm missing."

"Need any help?"

"No, I'm fine. I'll do this on my own."

"Good luck."

"I don't need it, especially not from you. I doubt you have much."

"Suit yourself. I have plenty of luck when I need it."

Sirius returned the dishes to the house when Ed was done, so he could continue with his training. He tried a few more times, even though it was pretty tiring. But still he had no success.  
_  
'So doing one and then the other will make me lose my focus on my magic. What else can I do?'_

He lay in the grass thinking of a solution, while watching the sheep.

_'That's it! If I rapidly switch back and forth between the two then it could technically be called focusing on both at the same time. If I can master switching back and forth, then I would probably have solved my problem. And if I can get the thoughts to surface when I focus on the picture that would be killing two birds with one stone! I'll have to work on that first. Hmm... Thoughts and emotions trigger magic. An image of a lion that triggers the thought of survival in me.'_

He tried coming up with the most fearsome and savage pictures of lions he could imagine, but it kept being replaced by scarier and scarier pictures. Finally he was satisfied with his fear and self-preservation inspiring picture. And then he meditated again to wash away the image, after which he quickly called it up again. Making him flinch outwardly. Now that he thought about it, the scene reminded him of one of his battles with scar. But it did the trick. So it was back to summoning his magic and trying to do all the things at nearly the same time. Despite knowing exactly what to do when, he couldn't get the magic to work. It wouldn't bend itself to the will of the emotion and picture.

_'I just need more practice to make it more natural.'

* * *

_

A few days later, the ash wood for Sirius' wand arrived, so Ed had less time to practice. He still couldn't get it right and his stubburn nature forbade him to ask Sirius for anymore help. Greg insisted on showing him the finer mechanics and theory behind wandmaking and also insisted that certain parts of it be done by hand, but Ed didn't really mind. He needed a break aside from landing punches and kicks against a tree to get himself in form again. By the time lunch rolled around, the wand was done, so Ed went out onto the field to give it to Sirius so he could try it out. When he got there he found him chasing sheep around in his dog form. The sheep didn't seem to mind; instead they were happily running and bleating cheerfully in tune to Sirius' barks. The sight was actually quite entertaining and astounding at the same time. Sirius noticed him rather quickly and then came towards the teen and changed back into human shape.

"What? You're done already?"

"Yeah, just made my first wand. Try it."

"Just between the two of us. I hope you don't turn into a copy of Greg. He's quite horrible if you insult his wands."

"How would you know that?"

"I did once, while I was making lunch, because I really want to head back to Great Britain and give that Dumbledore a piece of my mind. And then he was just there suddenly and smacked me on the head real hard. Then he started ranting about me not having any respect for elders and the countryside at all, which is actually not even wrong, and when he was done he hit me again."

"Serves you right though. Now hurry up and try it out. I'm supposed to tell Greg if it fits. If it doesn't then we'll have to start all over again."

"Alright, man. Quit nagging. I'm at it already." He took the wand and gave it a sharp and precise flick. Instantly, beautiful sparks of many colors shot out of the wand and danced around the field for a short moment before bursting and disappearing.

"That's an affirmative, right?" Sirius asked with a big grin on his face.

"I hope so. I need to go back and tell the old man, so he can quickly get started on mine."

"Hey, before you go, what are the characteristics of my wand?"

"Ehh... Fourteen and a half inches, Ash wood with Hungarian Horntail heartstring. Good for duels and Transfiguration, I think. Come on let's go, you still need to make lunch."

Gregorovitch was most happy to hear the good news, but after that his expression turned thoughtful.

"What was your first wand like? By who was it made?"

"Honestly, I forgot his name. It wasn't Ollivander, that much I can tell you. I believe it was around 11 inches. But I'm not sure about that anymore. It was made from Cherry wood and had four cores: two Thestral hairs, one Griffin hair and one Hippogriff hair."

Gregorovitch put his fingers to his chin and stared off into one direction. He appeared to be deep in thought, so Ed took the chance to go outside and practice again. He still couldn't get the thought to actually affect his magic.

_'I'm supposed to let it 'warp the magic', but it's not doing anything. So, maybe I'm forcing too much control on it? Then it would only be logical that the thought could not take control of the magic. But how do I give it more freedom? Just let go of the magic?'_

Ed concentrated his magical energy once more upon his chest and then blended in the images. He hesitated a moment and then just let go of his magic while continuing to focus strongly upon the thoughts and image he had chosen.


	29. On the Road again!

A/N Yay another week and another chapter! Thanks for the reviews!

To WhyDoICareAnymore: Yes there was a potion. It was to show what animal a person's soul was most like. And since Sirius actually had an ancient spell to replace it, they didn't have to brew the potion.

To Spockie: I'm sorry if it bothers you, but Dumbledore is supposed to be somewhat OOC in my story. He's also the evil one, unlike in the original. He doesn't actually believe it's really evil magic, but he believes that with his special 'magic' Ed could get in his way, so he decided it was best to remove him. So he convinced the minister to put him in Azkaban. I hope that clears things up a bit.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

And then he blinked.

And blinked again.  
_  
'Why is the grass so tall? And why in the world can I hear Gregorovitch mumbling to himself from outside here?'_

Ed turned and tried to walk back into the house, but he promptly lost his balance and fell down. And that's when he actually realized that he had four feet.  
_  
'I did it?! Wait... that means I'm a lion now... Then I have to walk on all fours...'_

And then carefully he moved his legs forward, one at a time. Surprisingly enough, Ed found it was fairly easy to get used to his new legs.  
_  
'But wait! If I'm a lion, shouldn't I be at least a bit bigger? I need a mirror... And I need to change back... How do I do that?'_

Ed closed his eyes and focused again. Once more he felt the magic surge through him and then he opened his eyes again, but the grass was still too tall.  
_  
'It didn't work? Damn it, I'll have to find Sirius.'_

Ed carefully walked back into the house. Luckily for him, he had left the door open when he had gone out. He walked into the kitchen, but Sirius wasn't there. Then he searched the rest of the house, but still he couldn't find him. So he went back out to the sheep. But he wasn't there either.  
_  
'Where the hell could he be?'_ Ed thought to himself while looking out over the hills.

The teen was thoroughly shocked when one of the sheep came over to him and looked him in the eyes. Naturally, it was much bigger than he was.

Somehow he just knew that the sheep did not have any ill intentions. Ed had no idea why, but he had the feeling that the sheep was trying to say: 'Are you looking for the dog?'

Ed blinked dumbfounded at the sheep, that seemed to have enough patience with him and just continued staring at him.

_'You have to use your expression to convey your message.'_ Sirius' lecturing voice in his head told him. So Ed tried to do just that, but the sheep didn't seem to understand him and apparently they didn't understand what a nod was either.

'Yes! I'm looking for him! Where is he?' Ed screamed in his head after multiple failed attempts at communication, with a sort of pleading look on his face. But all that came out was a measly 'miao'.

It did the job though and it seemed to say: 'Follow me.'

Then it turned around and walked away. Ed followed it, although he found he had to run a bit to keep up with it, because its steps were much larger than his. The sheep led him toward the small forest quite a distance away from the herd. Near the edge of the forest, the sheep suddenly stopped and Ed knew why. A big black dog stood there, but it wasn't Sirius. In fact, it didn't look anything like Sirius aside from the color. The dog growled and the sheep took a few scared steps backward. In a matter of moments, the dog sprang towards the sheep, but amazingly enough, Ed's reaction time had become even faster. He leaped with all his might and tackled the dog with his body. Although the effect was not substantial due to his smaller size, it had the desired effect. The dog winced and missed the sheep. The belief that felines always landed on their feet proved to be true when Ed landed from his midair tackle, ready to battle the much larger animal.

The dog seemed confused for a moment at the fact that it was being attacked by such a small animal, but it quickly recovered and growled dangerously at Ed as if saying: 'Get out of my way, twerp.'

He might have just imagined it, but the twerp comment really irritated Ed, especially coming from a stray dog that was reminding him more and more of Mustang. He had no idea why exactly, it might have just been the arrogant way the dog was looking down on him. The two animals circled each other while the sheep shied further away from the conflict. Ed didn't wait for his enemy to make the first move, quickly he moved forward in a zigzag motion, making it hard for the dog to decide where to move to or where to strike. The dog lowered its head in one swift motion attempting to bite Ed, but he had already moved to the other side. With his strong legs, he jumped up onto the dog holding himself in place with his claws. This caused the dog immense pain and it jumped about yowling trying to shake Ed off who could barely hold on. Finally, he was thrown off and onto the ground. The dog shook itself violently one more time before growling loudly and then leaping.  
_  
'Shit! There's no way I could win in this form!'_ Ed thought, closing his eyes as if it would spare him some of the pain or revert him to his original form.

But he felt no pain at all, instead he heard another growl, this one was familiar. Ed opened his eyes to see Sirius giving the other dog a big slash in the side. It fell to the ground and promptly tried to push itself away while whimpering. It finally got up and ran away as fast as it could.  
_  
'Why does he always appear in the right moment?'_ Ed asked himself as he got up. He wasn't really injured. Sirius looked from Ed to the sheep and then back to Ed. Then he changed back into his human shape.

He looked at Ed for a while before asking: "Ed?"

Ed nodded, not really knowing any other way to respond.

Sirius stood there looking at him strangely for at least a minute. Just when Ed was starting to feel extremely awkward and was about to scratch Sirius' face, the man burst out laughing and dropped to the ground and started rolling around on the grass. Now that pissed Ed off.  
_  
'What the hell's he laughing at!?'_

Scratch, scratch and another scratch.

"Ouch! What the hell man!?"

Ed glared at Sirius who had barely stopped laughing despite Ed scratching his legs.

"I'm Sorry! It's just too hilarious! You're supposed to be a lion, right?" And then he burst out laughing again. "Alright, let's get going. Aren't you going to change back?" The slightly deranged man asked Ed.

In return, Ed glared at him pointedly. At first he didn't seem to understand, but then slowly it dawned on him.

"Ohh! You can't change back, isn't that right?" He asked again with a big grin on his face.

Ed showed no sign off hearing him and his glee.

"Well, when you're transforming back, just do it in reverse. Oh yeah, but before you do, you should really see yourself in a mirror."

Sirius then scooped him from the floor, patted the sheep on the back and led it back to the herd.  
_  
'What the hell! I'm that small!?'_

"Wow, you actually asked the sheep where you could find me? Impressive... I couldn't do it for at least a month. Took me a lot of practice too."

Sirius briefly put Ed back onto the floor to fence all the sheep in so they were safe over the lunch period. Ed avoided Sirius when he tried to pick him up again and hissed at the man. Sirius just shrugged and proceeded to use his long, long, long legs to take, big, big, big steps. Ed was thoroughly annoyed by that, so he took a deep breath and then ran as fast as he could to test out his speed. Sure enough, he was loads faster than Sirius, even when said man sped up to chase after him. Upon reaching the house he sped around the corner and into the living room, where he remembered there was a mirror cabinet. But he couldn't open it, so he had to wait for Sirius. The man arrived just a minute or two after him breathing heavily and then opening up the cabinet for him. He grinned at him one last time before going to the kitchen to cook. Ed watched him go and then turned to the mirror. His fur and eyes were nearly the same color as they had been, a splendid shade of gold. But seeing his new shape in the mirror only served to perplex him.

_'What the hell?! I need to ask Sirius about this... But I have to transform back first... What in the world did he mean? Like reverse the entire process? But that wouldn't make any sense! Okay, I need calm down or else I'll have to spend a few more days like this and it feels really weird now already. He said to do the reverse... Reverse of what? Everything just not the process? So, I'd have to think of myself as a human, think something 'complicated' and summon the energy again?'_

Ed took a deep breath and tried it, but it wouldn't work.  
_  
'That's probably not it then... Do the opposite... What else could he have been referring to? Reverse just one of the actions? But if I had to reverse one of the actions which one is it most likely to be?'_

Gregorovitch was still in his workshop mumbling to himself about wand components. Ed paced the length of the room thinking and stopping every once in a while to test out some new theory of his, but nothing seemed to work. Sirius came back out into the living room with a pot of nice smelling food and placed it on the table standing there.

"Can't figure it out? Don't worry; it took me a while to find out what to do too. Hmm... But I guess you can't eat pasta in that shape... How about I find some cat food for you?"

In one swift motion, Ed jumped up and scratched his face.

"AH! My face! What the hell do you think you're doing!? It's been abused enough by the dementors! Come here you little worm!"

Sirius made to grab him, but Ed was faster and bolted under the table and out the other side. Before Ed could decide where to run, Sirius had transformed into a dog and chased after him. Ed quickly ran in the other direction and out of the house, followed closely by his big black hunter.  
_  
'What's wrong with him damn it!? I need to distract him...'_

Ed decided this was as good a time as any to test the limits of his new form. After a clap of his paws and a flash the ground rose and made a stone wall around Sirius, to stop him from getting to Ed.  
_  
'So it does work like this!'_

His joy at discovering something was quickly put out however, because Sirius wall jumped. He easily reached the top and leaped off, headed straight for Ed.  
_  
'Shit! If I was in my normal form, it would be a piece of cake to beat him. Do what in reverse, damn it!?'_

Sirius jumped at him, Ed rolled onto his back to avoid it. But before he could stand up again Sirius' angry growling face was over his.

_'Reverse it damn it!'_

Ed squeezed his eyes shut and in just that moment he felt that warm magical energy from all over his body return to his core. Ed quickly rolled over again and clapped his hands, this time making the earth form a hand that clasped onto the dog's body and rose high up into the sky, so Sirius' feet wouldn't touch the ground. Ed looked from his once again human hands to Sirius who didn't struggle in the hold of the stone hand. Instead, he transformed back and began laughing that weird barking laughter again, while swinging his legs up and down.

"What's so funny?" Ed shouted more irritated than he actually was.

"You, of course!" Sirius exclaimed between bouts of laughter. "Your expression was hilarious!" More laughing. "I didn't know I was that good of an actor!"

"What's going on out here? Don't you want to eat? The food's getting cold! And you're not getting any 'till you've finished fixing the lawn!" Gregorovitch reprimanded.

Ed sighed clapped his hands and returned everything to the shape it was before Sirius started his mad chase. Ed then stretched his arms.

"What the hell man Sirius, I thought you suddenly went bonkers."

"Of course not! I didn't go nuts after 12 years in Azkaban, why should it happen now that I'm finally out of that rotten place. The sooner we bring Dumbledore's crimes to the public, the sooner I can see Harry again... I miss him, even though he was just a little baby the last time I saw him and he probably wouldn't remember me and he's probably been fed the same lies Dumbledore had been spreading..." There was a hint of sadness and regret in his voice.

For just that short moment, Ed could sympathize with him. He too, wanted to go back home and see Al again. Until not long after, Ed remembered the reason he was so eager to change back.

"Sirius, do you have any idea what went wrong? I'm supposed to be a lion, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"THEN WHY THE HELL DO I LOOK SO MUCH LIKE A CAT?!"

Sirius chuckled, but shrugged. "Seriously, there are a number of things that could have gone wrong. But maybe there's nothing wrong with it and you're just a lion cub, because you're still a kid or at least your body is. You still haven't told me why you claim to be eighteen. You said you'd tell."

Ed sighed. "Maybe later, I don't feel like it now."

"I doubt you'll ever feel up to it." Sirius added.

"Later, okay?"

"What is wrong with you two? Can't you take care of my things?" Greg asked them when they sat down to eat.

"We're truly sorry. And anyway Ed fixed it already."

"Hmm... Just don't do it again... Oh and, an owl arrived with mail for Mr. Braid. Since I've never had a braid and owls have never been wrong with their destination in my experience, I think it safe to assume that Mr. Braid is one of you?"

"I don't know, but I'm probably meant by Mr. Braid."

Gregorovitch looked at him a bit strangely, but passed the letter over and Ed wasted no time opening it.

'Hey! Mr. Braid! How's your braid these days? You know about those two criminals who supposedly broke out of jail? Well, they haven't been sighted at all, so people are starting to say that the ministry was just pulling their leg. What do you think? Could people really have broken out of the highest security cell in Azkaban without help? Kind of a scary thought. Anyway, I was so surprised to get mail from you! You haven't written to me in a long time. Gryffindors are as weird as ever, still celebrating Harry who supposedly slayed Slytherin's Basilisk that was dormant in Hogwarts for over a thousand years. Personally, I don't really know if he could have done it, doesn't seem to be that good in school. He seemed a little down after he killed the Basilisk, but lately he's been happier. His relationship to one of the girls in his house seems a little on edge ever since then too. You wouldn't know her anyway, but they became quite close friends in first year. Oh! I forgot to tell you, she had been turned to stone by the large snake, scary huh? But her and all the others who were petrified were cured thanks to Madam Pomfrey's awesome potions and professor Sprouts excellent care for the Madragoras. I'm doing fine, exams are coming up soon, so I have to put more time into studying, but it shouldn't be too difficult. Oh yeah, Harry passed me a wand. It was really unexpected, so I didn't know how to react and I have no idea how it came to be in his possession. He wrote me a letter saying he wanted to meet me alone in the trophy room. Well, I was curious, so I went there at night and he just gave me the wand, said it was Edward Elric's wand, who was sent to Azkaban shortly after that incident... Don't know what I should do with it. But I'll probably send it to his foster parents. My father's a good friend of theirs and apparently both of them were completely dumbfounded by what happened. His foster mother was absent from work for a few days and I heard ever since then she was always depressed although she went to work and my father said she doesn't look as if she'd been sleeping well. I hope she'll get over it soon. I don't think she really believes that he escaped, like most of the people at the ministry actually. Alright, I think I should go and study now. I hope I'll be able to write to you again another time.'

This time he hadn't put down a name for himself. Sirius who had been reading over Ed's shoulder once again, nodded to answer the unasked question.

"Greg, we really appreciate you housing us and making a wand for Sirius. But we should get going soon. I just received information on the location of my wand, so it won't be necessary to make a new one. I'm not even sure if any other wand would accept me. If you don't mind, we'll be leaving tomorrow."

Gregorovitch sighed. "It's really been fun with both of you around, I must admit. I'm okay with it as long as you come visit me some time. And you have to take this."

He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small sack.

"There are a few Sickles and Knuts in here. They should prove useful to you on your way back. The bag also has an enlarging spell on it, so there's lots of space for whatever else you may want to put in there."

"What?! You're really giving this to us?"

"Of course not! You'll have to bring it back and pay back everything after you're done with your crazy mission. And I wouldn't mind taking in an apprentice."  


* * *

Later in the evening, Ed made sure he had put all of his things into his suitcase. Sirius was sitting on the bed watching him.

"You know, actually, it's not that bad that your Animagus form is like that." He said, carefully avoiding any word that could be interpreted as small. "It might even be a good thing. After all, you don't find too many lions in cities and most people would be scared to death if they did see one. You could pretend to be a cat and if we asked your friend, then it would be easier for us to get into Hogwarts, since cats are accepted as pets."

Ed considered it and nodded. "True enough. And dementors won't be able to detect me either way."

"We will have to disguise ourselves, though. There will still be times when we'll need to interact with humans."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Well, I could change your hair color, for example. To black maybe, and I could make my hair brown. We might also be able to change our eye colors, although it would only be temporary and we can't enter any major wizarding building. Most of them have counter spells casted upon them, so we'll be found out immediately. But it will be enough to go into muggle shops and maybe the subway."

Ed was surprised. "You know what the subway is? I thought most pure-bloods didn't know anything about muggle culture."

"Yeah, I wouldn't have known. But one time, during summer holidays I and James decided to visit Lily. We asked her for directions and she told us to take the subway." Sirius face clearly showed how much he enjoyed his memories. "We were in that thing for hours and hours and we were kind of lost. But eventually we did make it to her house. After that James made me study muggle culture with him, so it wouldn't happen again. James, ah why did you have to die? Stupid Peter... I will avenge you..."

Silence embraced the room for a long while, with Ed looking at Sirius staring out the window at the starry sky.

"You know, James was like a brother to me. He might even have been my uncle, although I'm not too sure, nearly all pure-blood families are related somehow. Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, a younger brother..."

"Were you very close?"

"Yeah, and we still are, but I still feel really guilty sometimes."

"Why? What happened?"

"I... almost got him killed, at least twice but it might have been a few times more than that."

Sirius turned his gaze from the sky to Ed. "Well, at least you can say he's still alive. James' death... I'm as guilty as that stinking little rat... I... I was actually secret keeper. And it was solely my idea to change with Peter... That's why... I will avenge him..."

The next day, Sirius performed a number of spells on Ed and himself. Ed now had long black hair, although he agreed not to tie it in a braid after fighting over it for three hours. His eyes were a very dark brown now and he dressed in a red jacket over a white t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. Sirius' hair was now light brown in color and kept short. He thought that would be an additional help in keeping people from recognizing him, since he had long hair in the photo they had published in the newspaper. He wore a light blue shirt, a brown trench coat and brown pants. To top it off, he got Ed to make him a brown fedora hat. Sirius promised Gregorovitch to come back to visit him someday before they set off once again.


	30. Pursue Your Goal!

A/N Seriously, Maplestory eats time...

To 2stupid: Umm... No? I do agree that it took up way too much space... But that can't be helped, I guess. Sometimes stories just take on a life of their own. But it wasn't completely useless. I doubt you would have liked me to write: they sat in a cave and somehow Ed learned Animagi under stress and somehow dementors didn't find them and somehow they had enough to eat and somehow Sirius stole someone's wand and somehow Ed's arm managed to heal fine. So aside from finding a logical place where he got the wand, I needed some time in the story to pass and they also got contact to Draco, which means they know what's going on. And also J.K.R. says that the marauders took three years to learn Animagi and although Ed is a genius, I doubt even he could learn it under stress and constant fear of dementors popping up from the nowhere. Okay I hope that made sense, if it doesn't just view the Greg arc as a filler.

To PokkiChoco: Indiana Jones? O.o I've never actually watched any of those movies, but I think I have a vague idea of what that looks like. It's hilarious, although I really wasn't planning on that.

To DemonRailey: Yup, that's true.

Disclaimer: don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it. Don't own Fullmetal Alchemist as well and anything associated with it.

* * *

Dear Mr. Braid,

I heard that because of pressure from the public, the ministry has decided to dramatically decrease the number of dementors in the search teams.  
And they've even banned them from the cities, although some will still be passing by villages every now and then.

It's much safer and easier to get out now that you don't have to fear one of them attacking you when you turn a corner.

Studying for exams is still taking up most of my time.

I'll write to you again soon.

* * *

Ed and Sirius took their time travelling back. But in the end, they couldn't get themselves to plan ahead exactly how they were going to defeat Dumbledore, both of them preferring to do quick thinking if something came up. It was definitely easier to travel without having to worry about dementors popping up around every corner. So, at least laying low for a while had payed off. Being able to travel around as animals was also great, because they could move without fear of being recognized. By the time they were back on British ground, it was the middle of May.

"So where do your foster parents live?" Sirius asked one night when they were camping in a random forest.

"Actually, I'm not so sure about that. I've only ever apparated to the house. I don't know the way."

Sirius smacked himself on the forehead with his open palm. "Then what're we going to do until you figure out how we're getting there?"

"We could use the Floo..."

"Whose Floo? And don't forget, the ministry could be monitoring the Floo connection from their house."

"How else do you suggest we get there?"

"They work at the ministry right? How about we wait for either one of them in an alleyway and grab onto their clothes just before they apparate?"

"What! That's ridiculous!"

"But you have to admit, it might work." Sirius said with a grin.

"Providing they don't use the Floo at the ministry to get home." Ed added, he read in one of the library books that the ministry had a large Atrium with many chimneys for the employees.

"Drat, we can't go in there either, since people would suspect something if they saw animals running around."

"What if we use the Floo at the leaky cauldron? Even if they were monitoring our Floo, it wouldn't be too hard to make up an excuse why the Floo had been used."

"If we do that, we'll still have to find some Floo powder." Sirius said.

"Doesn't the leaky cauldron itself have any?"

"I don't think that's meant for us though."

"I'm sure the barkeeper wouldn't mind us using a bit of his powder."

"Providing we can find it."

"Do we have any other choice?"

"Yeah, let's break into Snappie poo's house and steal his Veritaserum."

"We don't actually know if he'd have that stuff at his house and even if he did, we don't even have a clue where he lives, or if he even has a house. Maybe he just stays in Hogwarts the whole year."

"True, that poor git wouldn't be able to afford a house in the first place."

Ed rolled his eyes at that comment, he had to hear Sirius insult Snape at least three hundred times already and even though it was true that Snape could be extremely agitating at times, it was starting to get old. "So are we going to London?"

"Yeah alright..." Sirius agreed, so they made their way to London, hitching a ride on a truck every now and then in their animal forms of course.

Once there it wasn't difficult at all to get to the ministry. As they had been doing before they reached the city, they pretended not to be headed to any definite location and they also stopped every once in a while. This strategy was successful, as none of the wizards dressed as muggles even spared them a second glance, although it would seem odd for a dog and a 'cat' to be walking together.

On the other hand, the wizards themselves were easily recognizable, because none of them had any knowledge concerning muggle fashion and it would appear that none of them even cared. There were still quite a few ridiculously dressed people walking around with great alertness. Ed assumed those were Aurors who were patrolling the area since they could no longer have dementors flying around.

Since Sirius thought he knew the way, Ed let him lead since he had never been there before. They arrived at one of those red public telephone boxes. Sirius circled it a few times sniffed the ground and then walked away into an alleyway, Ed lay on the sidewalk for a little while watching the people walk by and checking for any watchers. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Sirius poke his head out of the alley and sniff around and then go disappear again from his sight. Ed got up after he was sure they weren't being watched and followed Sirius into the small street. Sirius then laid himself on the floor, signifying that they should wait here. They waited and waited, but the time seemed to pass slower than it should have. They didn't actually have watches, so they had to look at the sun's positioned to get an estimate of the time. Ed had fallen asleep multiple times, but he always woke himself up immediately and walked around a bit to get himself awake again. They'd hardly slept during the journey since they were actually trying not to waste time. The sky was yellow; turning red when both of them went to hide behind a trash can at their destination. A man had come into the alley. He looked tired from the day's work, but it was not Alphonse. Sirius was clearly waiting for Ed to identify their target for him, so Ed paid special attention. The wizard hardly noticed them and apparated away. The next person arrived not long after. Slowly but surely many other people came into the little street, some were happy and some frustrated. But neither Alphonse nor Trisha appeared. It was now a little past nightfall and Ed was losing hope that they would appear.  
_  
'Maybe they just decided to use the Floo.'_

Sirius was getting frustrated, because apparently their plan had too many steps in it that could go wrong. He turned into human shape and Ed could tell he was about to go on a tirade, when he was halted by some voices.

"I'm sure he's fine. He's a strong kid."

Ed recognized them right away and nodded towards Sirius, whose eyes went wide and seemed paralyzed for a moment, as if he'd been waiting for this moment but had no idea what he actually wanted to do once it had come. He managed to change back and get into what looked like a relaxed position on the floor and pretended that he was sleeping. He opened one eye briefly to make it clear to Ed that each of them should just grab on to one of the two wizards. Ed nodded again.

"How can you say that? He's a strong kid? Of course he's a strong kid! But even the most evil witches and wizards go crazy in that darned place after a week! How could a child survive in there! What if he died and that Black happened to have died at the same time as him and the dementors just disposed of their bodies and that's why people think they've escaped?!"

"Calm down, I'm positive he's alive and well somewhere. Come on let's go home and get some rest."

Ed readied himself crouched and ready to pounce at any moment. Trisha was closer to him so he'd have to hold on to her. Trisha sighed and stood there for a bit, Alphonse looked at her for a moment, then both got ready to apparate. Just at the moment when they were about to apparate, Ed and Sirius jumped and held on to them. Their timing was perfect. The couple was visibly shocked, but had already triggered the Apparition magic. Apparating as an animal was definitely a weird feeling. Ed felt his fur being pressed tightly to his skin and in the next moment all four landed with a loud thud on the ground. But the job was not done yet, both Alphonse and Trisha got up, pulling their wands and pointing them at Ed and Sirius, respectively. Neither Sirius nor Ed moved, if they randomly transformed back now, it might cause the other two to panic and let off a harmful spell. Although both sides were just opposite each other, it was difficult for the humans to see them, since it was dark out.

"Lumos!" Trisha's wand tip lit up.

Ed's eyes reflected the light eerily and the golden in them were clearly visible. This made Alphonse's attention shift to him as well. Ed saw with his improved sight, how he passed Trisha a questioning look. She too seemed to be thinking the same thing. For a moment the scene seemed frozen in place, none of them moved.

"Ed?" They both asked at the same time.

Ed nodded, but changing back outside here was rather risky, now that he thought about it.

It was late and dementors were more likely to be out and about at this time. Since the public wouldn't be aware of them. He turned himself towards the house and tilted his head in that direction. Sirius too walked towards the house and although they looked like they wanted to believe he truly was who he claimed to be, a certain extent of wariness showed in their faces, but nevertheless, they followed the other two back into the house. When they entered, both Ed and Sirius were back to their old selves, all of the disguising charms were taken off, lest they not believe him. After a brief moment of stunned silence, both Trisha and Alphonse rushed forward and gave Ed a big hug.

"Ed! We've really missed you! What in the world happened?"

"How in the world did you manage to get out?"

"How did you avoid being found?"

"Where were you all this time?"

"Ack! You're suffocating me!" At once they let go, Ed smiled at them warmly. "Yeah, I'm home, mom, Al."

"Ahem." That was when they finally noticed Sirius as well. Immediately both drew their wands again. "Hey, hey, hey. Hold it; I'm on your side!" He said putting up his hands.

"He's alright; he helped me escape, actually."

"But aren't you that guy who betrayed the Potters?"

"No, of course not! It was another friend of theirs, the one I supposedly killed, Peter Pettigrew. He then cornered me in the streets and blew the place up so it would look as if he had died." Sirius spat bitterly.

"But what are you doing here? And will you please explain to us what's going on?"

Ed quickly summarized the events following his imprisonment and finished with: "So now, we're actually trying to bring Dumbledore's crimes to the public and we need Veritaserum for that."

"Sorry Ed, but we don't have any at here at the moment. Its usage is strictly controlled after all." Alphonse replied.

"I know that. That's why I thought of making it myself. But I'll need ingredients, and I can't possibly go and buy them myself."

"Let me go and find the recipe, we should have something in the library."

"No, it's alright. I've actually written down everything in here", Ed grabbed his invisible locket and opened it, taking out the shrinkable notebook.

"Woah! Where'd you get that from? I haven't even seen that!" Sirius remarked.

"I put this stuff in there just after I got it, and I've been working on the potion formula in the nights. I don't want to brew the normal serum. It would be way too easy for Dumbledore to resist it with Occlumency. He might even have an antidote on hand because he fears things like this. So I thought if we'd used a variation then it wouldn't be as easy to counter the potion, or maybe we could prevent him from countering it at all. I only have a few theories of what might work well, so I'll just have to test them out. Would you mind getting me these ingredients?" Ed asked while tearing out a sheet of paper from the notebook and handing it to Alphonse.

"Hmm... We have most of these. I'll pick up the rest tomorrow during my lunch break. I assume you're staying here?"

"Yeah we are, but we'll be in our Animagus forms most of the time just to be on the safe side, since dementors are blind and apparently it's difficult for them to find us when we're like animals."

"I see, should we get a room ready for you, Mr. Black?"

"Yes, please... But Mr. Black!? What am I? An old man? Well, okay, I'm not that young anymore... But just call me Sirius, seriously." He grinned at his own statement and stuck out his hand. "Trisha Knight, you may call me Trisha if you like." "Alphonse Knight, Al's fine." All three shook hands.

Trisha called up one of the house elves to prepare a room for Sirius and then went to bed herself; the latest events seemed to sap the energy out of her.

"I need to sleep too. Suddenly the world has turned upside down."

"Right, good night... Oh yeah! Before you go, I need to ask you something. Did Draco send you my wand?"

"Your wand? He has your wand?"

"Yeah, Harry gave it to him and he wrote me a letter saying that he would pass it to you, but I guess he'll probably want to do it personally."

"Yeah, the way I see it that's the most likely answer. Now if you don't mind... Good night. If you're hungry you can always go to the kitchen."

"Thanks, good night."

Both of their stomachs rumbled loudly into the silence.

"I'm starved! Okay, so where's the kitchen?" Sirius asked.

Ed led the way and the house elves were most happy to see him. They quickly prepared some snacks and drinks for them.

"So after we use the veritaserum on Dumbledore, how're we actually going to convince anyone of what we heard?"

Ed was silent for a moment; he really hadn't thought that far yet. "How about we kidnap some news reporter and do the questioning with him or her around?"

"Well, that could work, but there's no guarantee that anyone will believe that person. If we're going to do kidnapping, why not snag the minister?"

"Why? Because he's sure to have at least four guards with him. And like you said, I think it'd be impossible for us to enter the ministry."

"But what else could we do?" Sirius complained between gulping down huge amounts of food.

"Hmm... I don't know... Wait, there are those things... I forgot what they're called... Those stone basins that people put their memories in."

"Pensieves? But those things are darned expensive and we don't have any money, unless Trisha and Al feel like financing us."

"I don't want to get them too involved in this. I mean they have a good life and steady jobs, I couldn't take responsibilty if we fail and they lose everything they have because of me."

"And I don't have anything to lose?" Sirius asked jokingly.

"Well, no not really. Besides, we're fighting to secure what you do have left."

Sirius chewed his food silently after that comment.  
_  
'He must be worrying about Harry...'_ Ed thought to himself. "So, what do you think we should do?"

"How about we do all three? We get someone to publish a story, kidnap the minister and do the interrogation in front of him and tell him to keep the memory in a pensieve and show as many people as possible, while hoping that he takes enough care of it, so it won't be altered by anyone."

"Hmm... It could work, that way we wouldn't need a pensieve, but we still don't know how we're getting into the ministry."

"We could lure him out. And then maybe not kidnap him outright, but spur his interest in our little project."

"With what? I doubt that guy's really interested in the well-being of the wizarding community."

"Yeah, but if he got out such a huge scandal, I'm sure his popularity would increase and he would have more chances to keep his position. The only problem would be that it wouldn't actually be so good for the community if he stayed minister."

"It's a good idea and we might be able to ask Draco's dad to vote him off after that... He seems to have a lot of influence on the ministry."

"That Malfoy git? I'm sure he does, I can just imagine him strutting around, bribing people and threatening people left and right. No way I'm asking him for help."

"We aren't asking him directly, he wouldn't listen to us anyway."

"So, our plan is set?"

"Not really, we still haven't cleared how we're luring Fudge out and which journalist we're getting and of course, we have no idea how we're actually disarming Dumbledore."

"Right, even with our Animagus forms, which I have no intention of showing Fudge mind you, we won't be able to sneak them in. Our only choice would be to catch Dumbledore outside of the ministry."

"How about asking Fudge to summon him once we've convinced him of our motives?" Ed thought up.

"So, our main problem is getting a journalist and convincing Fudge?" Sirus summarized.

"And possibly taking out his guards."

"Oh yeah, or they might try and kill us."

"What if he brings dementors along?"

"We'll just ask to meet him in town and then it'd be impossible for him to bring dementors, or else he'd be going against his own decisions."

"Ah yeah, that could work. Unless he says: 'Since I suspected that it would be them, it will surely not bother the people that dementors will now no longer be roaming the area, at all.'"

"Argh! I'm too tired to think!" Ed said and then let out a big yawn.

"Then let's go to sleep too."

A house elf popped out of nowhere.

"May Flinky show you to your room, Mr. Black?"

"Urgh, nothing against you personally, Flinky, but I've had quite a lot of bad experiences with some of your folk." The elf made some noncommittal sound and walked out of the dining room. "Well, then see you the next day." Sirius said before transforming into a dog again.

"Yeah, g'night." _'I wonder what happened to Elmar. I'll have to ask them tomorrow.'_

The bed was way too big for him in his Animagus form and it took quite a bit of effort to jump onto it, but it was nice and comfortable, so he just curled up in the middle and almost promptly fell asleep. He did want to visit Al, but he was just too tired. Quite a few hours later he woke up to the sound of footsteps. After stretching he blinked his eyes and hopped down from the bed. The door had been left open as it was the night before, so it was no problem for him to get out of the room. Alphonse was already getting ready for work.

"Al!" Ed called after he transformed back.

"Hey, Ed. I didn't expect you up so early. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah I did. I heard your footsteps, so I woke up. There's something I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?"

"What happened to Elmar?"

"Oh, her... Well, she was kind of depressed when she heard the news about you, elves like to gossip, you know. And she was constantly sobbing and everything and cheering her up didn't really work. During that time I had been talking to Lucius quite often, and I mentioned it to him once. And he said something along the lines of: 'Good for nothing elves, always getting in the way, why don't you send her to work for Hogwarts. If you do decide to do that, I'll help you get her started there.' I wasn't thinking anything along those lines, but I found that a different work place and different company might help her focus on other things for a little while. So me and Trisha asked her and she was okay with it, so now she's at Hogwarts."

"Oh... Can you still call her back?"

"We could, but then I'd have to write a letter to Dumbledore to let him know that she'll be coming back. Should I do that?"

Ed thought for a little bit and then changed his mind. "No, it's alright if she stays there for a while. We will be going to Hogwarts some time, so I'll pay her a visit. Do you know where she's working?"

"Apparently in the kitchen."

"Thanks again."

"No problem, I'll see you when I come back then?"

"Yeah, see you then."

Alphonse then went off to work.

It was still quite early. Since he had nothing to do, Ed decided to pay his brother a visit. It was difficult to fall back asleep again, but eventually he managed to. The magical gate was closed as always, but with the help of his own magic it opened up. The sight of green rolling hills met his sight.  
_  
'How're you Al?'_

_'Ed! Are you okay? Did they find you? Are you safe now? Where are you now?'_

_'Yeah, I'm fine, I'm safe and I'm back at this side's Alphonse and Trisha's house. Now, how about you?'_  
_  
'I'm doing well, too. I've managed to remember a few more things after I helped you in your escape and I've finally found Mr. Mustang!'_  
_  
'Really? Where was that arrogant bastard hiding?'_

_'Ed! Don't say that!'_ Alphonse pouted for a while, but then he sighed. _'Please, brother. He has really changed since you last saw him. I found him in an abandoned outpost near Briggs and he was quite drunk. Actually, he might have died from the cold.'_  
_  
'Serves him right...'_

_'Brother! Can't you stop it! He was depressed, because of you, you know?'_

Ed wasn't sure he heard that right. _'What?! What did I do?'_  
_  
'Because you just disappeared, that's what! He really cares for you and he thought it was all his fault that you're gone.'_

_'Care for me? Bah! The only things he ever did were giving me stupid missions that hindered me from researching, insulting me and giving us false leads on the stone!'_

_'But he was trying to help us! Without his help you couldn't even have gotten into the military, since there's an age requirement! And don't you realize that he only insulted you to hide the fact that he actually cared?'_

Ed was silent for a long while and then decided to change the topic. _'So? What's up with him now?' _He asked rather reluctantly.  
_  
'I managed to convince him that you're alive, but I'm not sure he believes me. He was very sick and I brought him to a hospital at the base of the mountain. After that I think they transferred him back to central. And Hawkeye gave him a good scolding. Because he was MIA for so long, he was dismissed from the military and doesn't have a job now.'_  
_  
'I... I see... When I come back, I'll pay him a visit...'_

_'How about apologizing?'_

_'... Only if he doesn't insult me...'_

_'How did he insult you anyway?'_

_'... He calls me short...'_

Al burst out laughing._ 'Hahaha! You've never liked being called short.'_

_'It's not funny Al!'_

_'Sorry, brother! I just haven't heard your short rants for a while now. So, what's your plan now that you're free?'_

Ed briefly outlined their plan for Al.  
_  
'Oh, that's a good idea! But make sure to keep your cool while talking to the minister. If you flip out because he calls you short then you'll ruin your credibility.'_  
_  
'I'll try...'_ Ed ground out between gritted teeth. _'What about you? What're you going to do?'_

_'I'll do more research. Magic is really strange. That time when I 'used' my magic, it felt really strange. It seems so completely different yet, it feels similar. If I could find out what exactly is different, it would be possible to use that type of energy specifically to open up the 'magical gate'. So you just focus on your task first, it's not going to be easy.'_

_'Thanks and good luck to you.'_

_'Yeah, good luck, brother!' _


	31. To Hogwarts!

A/N This Chapter has many time skips, sorry for that. But it'd be boring to write it out. On another note, I think the story is ending soon, but I could be wrong.

Thank you FantomoDrako and KuroiWing for reviewing, I realize that you've reviewed on almost every, if not every chapter. O.o

Disclaimer: don't own either of the stories and their characters. I'm sure you know who does.

* * *

Although he returned from the other side of the magical gate and had woken up, Ed couldn't really decide what he wanted to do. He had to wait for Alphonse to come back before he could get started on the potion. Sirius had run off somewhere.  
_  
'I swear that guy just likes running around.'_ Ed told himself while he walked down a flight of stairs leading to the cellar. He had yet to find the potions lab. Halfway down, Sirius' shadow blocked out the light coming from above. The dog walked down a few steps, then stopped and ran back up and away.  
_  
'What's his problem?'_ Ed thought when he turned around again and looked down into the dark.

Darkness, dampness, stonewalls and wooden doors. A cold shiver ran down his spine.

_'Maybe I'll just wait for Al to show me...'_

With that he turned around and went up as well. Despite having nothing much to do, the day passed by relatively quickly. Trisha gave Ed a big hug upon coming home and Al brought back the things Ed had wanted him to get.

"The potions lab? Yeah, it's in the basement. Come on, I'll show you." Alphonse replied when Ed asked him.

With a snap of his fingers, the candles lit themselves magically. He hesitated before following Alphonse down the cold stone steps. They walked down the corridor to the third door on the right.

"Here it is. You can use whatever you like in here. How long does it take to brew the potion anyway?"

"A little more than a month."

"Hmm... One month? That's around the time Hogwarts closes for the summer, right? What do think of inviting Draco over? I'm sure you'd like to see him, right?"

"Yeah I would, but I'm not sure how that would seem to people. After all, I'm 'not here', so what would he be doing here?"

"We could disguise it as a quiet birthday celebration among friends, or something like that."

"But his father doesn't know and shouldn't know. I don't really know if we can trust him, because his goals differ from ours."

"We could distract his father, while you talk to him."

"I don't know. I any case, I'll start brewing tomorrow."

"It's up to you..." Alphonse replied.

Both of them returned to the surface where Sirius was sniffing at a perfume candle. After eating something, Ed and Sirius started discussing again in Ed's room.

"I was thinking, we could just wait for him in our animagus forms and if he brings dementors, then they can't really sense us anyway. If he brings dementors then we'll just wait 'till he goes away."

"Hey! That's a good idea. Why didn't we think of that sooner?"

"Maybe because we were too tired last night and just didn't feel like doing it at all the other times?"

"Alright, so how do we get him to meet us?"

"Owl post?"

"Yeah, why not."

Ed opened one of the drawers and took out a sheet of parchment and a quill.

"Great, what do we write?" They pondered in silence for a while.

"Ehh... Why don't you start with: 'Hello Mr. Minister.' or something like that?"

"Ehh, right." Ed wrote that down. "And then how about: 'Are you interested in uncovering a huge scandal?'"

"Okay, write that. And then maybe: 'We'd like to meet you and prove it to you. But you can't bring any personal guards or dementors."

"What? I agree with the first sentence, but we're definitely not writing the second one."

"Why not? Then he won't bring anyone along."

"Haven't you ever heard of reverse psychology? We don't have to give him any funny ideas."

"Okay, okay... Then how about: meet us at midnight in the alleyway outside of the ministry."

"Okay, we'll go with that. And then something like: 'meet us on..."

"Right, when are we meeting him? And when are we sending it off?"

"When we've made the potion, I guess. But what are we going to say to him?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know, I'll leave it up to you to come up with something."

* * *

The potion finished a few days earlier than Ed had originally calculated, because some of the ingredients reacted faster than he had expected them to. So now they were contemplating what to do.

"What do we do if he doesn't come? Or if we can't persuade him?" Ed asked.

"Ehh... We'll run away first and then think of something new."

"But surely if we fail, he would tell Dumbledore of what we're planning?"

"Then we'll just have to hope we don't fail and try not to reveal anything about our plan before he agrees to help us."

"What if he just agrees, but still tells Dumbledore?"

"What about a wizarding oath?"

"Okay that might work... How are we getting there?"

"Now that we're both full of energy again, we could Apparate into Knockturn Alley and from there we could sneak out through the Leaky Cauldron."

"Isn't that bar usually full of people?"

"Well, not if we go during the day on Monday or Tuesday, usually all the people are working then."

"So in like two days?"

"Yeah, let's write that onto the letter."

And then they sent it off.

* * *

Two days later, Ed and Sirius were waiting at the alleyway. They decided to go and wait there early in the day already. Sirius stationed himself inside of it and Ed just in front of it on the main road, pretending to sleep. From there it was fairly easy to watch over the whole area and see if the minister would bring anyone. Occasionally a few kids on their way home stopped to pet him.

_'What the hell, no wonder cats like to be petted.' _Ed thought.

Gradually, the crowd lessened. They waited a long time, but the minister finally arrived at the appointed time.

"Hello? Is anyone there? I'm the minister. What do you want from me?"

From the entrance of the street, Ed saw Sirius' sign to transformed back and so he did.

"We would simply like for you to keep quiet for a while and listen."

Fudge turned around abruptly and nearly screamed, but Sirius transformed back and held his mouth.

"We said keep quiet! It's about the safety of the wizarding world and if you don't listen, you might lose your job. So will you keep it down?"

The minister still trembled, but nodded, so Sirius let him go.

"W-W-What's this about my job?!"

"Are you aware that many people in the ministry think you're incompetent?"

"No... But I'm not incompetent and this doesn't have to do with anything!"

"If so many people think you're incompetent, then why were you chosen as minister?"

"How should I know?"

"I think you do know, minister."

"What? I really don't understand what you're trying to get at!"

"Well, simply put. If not for Dumbledore, you wouldn't have been chosen."

"Dumbledore's a good man! And he chose me because he believed that I was the best man for the job!"

Ed sighed. "If you really are the best man for the job, then it's no wonder that dark wizards are trying to over throw the ministry."

"Come on, even someone as thick-headed as you would know that he's not actually doing much for the community!" Sirius interjected.

"We're not trying to get you kicked off your post. On the contrary, if you help us, your reputation might soar."

"What do you mean?"

"Dumbledore is manipulating wizarding Britain, from the inside."

"I don't believe you..."

"Has he never asked favors from you before? Has he never given you bad advice?" Ed was making wild guesses here, but he was fairly certain that was the case.

"Of course not!... Well, maybe once or twice... Or, or, or... maybe a little more than that...."

"Just agree already minister, you're wasting our time."

"Okay, okay, but what difference wills it make?"

"Well, if you accepted it, it means that you accepted the fact that you not as able as you should be for your job."

"Well..."

"That means that we were right."

"Ehh? Hmmm... true... But you have no proof, do you? Or else you wouldn't have had to convince me like this."

"This is where we need your help minister, so do you agree to help us."

"I guess it can't really hurt, can it?"

"Well, just to make sure you don't decide to turn on us. Let's make an Unbreakable Vow."

The minister shuffled around a bit and then finally agreed. "Alright..."

Ed stuck out his hand and the minister took it. Sirius pulled out his wand and lightly tapped it onto their locked hands.

"One, until we have revealed Dumbledore's true nature to the public, you will not reveal any information about our whereabouts or our plans to anyone at all."

"I-I will."

Ed felt the power of the spell; red flaming strings of magic released from the wand tip wound themselves along their hands, sealing the magic in place.

"Two, you will not betray us, at least for the duration of our project."

"I will."

The display of magic unfolded again.

"There all done." Ed said breathing out a sigh of relief.

"So, on to our plans..."

"Mr. Elric and Mr. Black, don't you think it would be safer to talk about this someplace private?"

Ed looked to Sirius for advice.

"I think it should be alright."

The minister picked up a lump that looked like an old shoe, he then pulled out his wand and tapped it. A small ring of golden light engulfed it and then dissipated. "This will take us to my house. There's no one there except the house-elf, but you don't have to worry about it."

They both touched the shoe and all three disappeared from the alleyway. They reappeared in the minister's living room, which was not overly large, but had a lot of expensive looking things in it. Fudge sat down on one of the couches and offered them the one opposite of him.

"Please continue where you stopped."

"We can't convince the public like this. We don't mind if you pretend that you uncovered the crime, but the point is, we need the proof. We've decided to go with a pensieved memory, but if you tell the public you just got the memory from us like that, it could be argued that the memory is a fake."

"And so you want me to take my own memories?"

"Sort of, and we need to get an article published about this. So that everyone would know."

"So we need someone who's willing to write something for us? I think I have an idea who we could ask, but I'll have to drop her a hint discreetly, first."

"So, you'll do that for us?"

"Yes of course. If I can reveal something so big to the public, then it'll surely help me keep my job. So you're using Veritaserum I presume?"

"Yeah, that's what we were going to do."

"Do you need some? I have some on hand."

"No, we've got some already. We'll be sneaking into Hogwarts if you don't have anything against that. At least I'm going to. I don't know about Sirius, I reckon he would look too out of place."

"What else do you need me for?"

"We need to organize a Portkey, if possible. So that we can bring Dumbledore to your place to interrogate him. And I think that's all."

"Good, I shall write you a letter-"

"Annonymously of course."

"Yes, well-"

"How about signing the letter with cheesecake? You know, just so we know it's you." Sirius asked.

"What, but... Why cheesecake?"

"So that no one would ever suspect you?"

"Erm... Just so you know; I'm not happy with this."

"You can address us with back with 'Stripey the Cat' as our pen name."

"If we're done here, should I give you a Portkey back to that alley?"

"No it's alright, just show us out. Sirius can apparate."

The minister promised to get to work immediately. It made Ed nervous and wary; everything was just going way too smoothly.

_'Maybe it's just because we planned everything out perfectly? Or maybe it's just because he believes things easily.'_

The next day, Trisha showed Ed a letter, she had just received.

'Dear Mrs. Knight, I have something I should be passing on to you for safekeeping. I shall come over the day after I arrive back at home, which is in three days. If you have any objections, need to say anything or if you don't happen to be around on that day then, you may pick a date.'

"This is great! When he comes over, I can talk to him as well."

* * *

_Dingdong_

Ed was waiting silently on the sofa with Trisha beside him. He was still in animagus form, just in case Draco's father had decided to come with him. Shortly after, an elf brought the blond in.

"Hello Mrs. Knight." Draco greeted.

"It's good to see you. How have you been? I heard the tests this year were difficult."

"Not really, I got full marks on all the papers. And you? Are you're feeling better now?"

"Well, yes actually. Why don't you sit down?"

"Ah, thank you. That's great. Getting down to the purpose of my visit, I wanted to give this to you." He took out a slim box from one of his robe pockets and passed it to her.

"This is Ed's wand I presume?"

"Ah yes, how did you know?"

"He told us you'd be giving it to one of us in the near future."

"He told you? So he wrote you a letter?"

"No, he told us personally."

"What? How is he? Where is he now?" Draco asked, standing up from where he was sitting.

Ed jumped behind the sofa.

"He's right here."

And then he transformed back.

"Woah! Amazing! But how did you-? When did you-?"

"As usual, it's a long story." Ed said giving his friend a small smile.

Trisha passed him the wand and he took it into his hands and fingered it a bit. He didn't know why, but having his wand back felt like finally being complete once more.

"Would you like to have anything to drink?"

"No thanks, ma'am." Draco said, still quite shocked that Ed was already back. Ed summarized the whole story as best as he could for Draco beginning from the day they fought the basilisk and then finished off with their current plans. "We've got the minister on our side as long as we let him take all the credit for this scandal. He's helping us organize a journalist in the moment."

"Is there anything I can do to help too?"

"Yeah, since my Animagus form is a lion, it would be great if you could take me to Hogwarts. You know, as a... a pet..."

"Hold on, that's supposed to be a lion?" Draco saw Ed's glare and quickly went back to their previous topic. "It's possible, but what would you do from there?"

"We'd catch Dumbledore unaware, disarm and immobilize him and then Portkey him to the minister's office, where we'll interrogate him."

"Who's we?"

"Both of us, of course." Sirius said coming in from one of the doors.

"You're Sirius Black? Nice to meet you. I'm Draco Malfoy." He said.

"Oh, not drawing your wand on me? That's a first in Britain since I've come out of prison."

"I figured, that there had to be a good reason why Ed let's you tag along with him. I doubt he would help a real criminal escape from Azkaban."

"I doubt that too."

"But if I bring you along, how is Sirius getting into the school?"

"Don't worry about me; I know my way around Hogwarts."

"What're you going to do until we go back to school?"

"Beats me, I guess I'll have to get used to being a cat for most of the time until then."

"How am I going to tell father that I'm going to bring a cat to school?"

"Just say that you went off to Diagon Alley for a while and saw this cat in the window and you liked it so you bought it."

"So you're coming along with me right now?"

"I guess I could. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, of course not. Just go ahead and do what you think is best."

"Since you can't really take it along like that. Should I hold on to the Serum first?" Sirius asked.

"Okay, when are we meeting up?"

"First week of school on Wednesday would be good I think. That way I'd have enough time to see how I could get around. Where should we meet?"

"Oh, how about in the Shrieking Shack?" Sirius suggested.

"No one goes there; most people think it's haunted."

"How do I get there?"

"There's a hill behind the school with a lone tree on it, also known as the Whomping Willow. It shouldn't be a problem getting to the tree trunk in cat shape. But you'll still have to watch out; it hits anything that gets too close. If you go right to its trunk, there's one root that really sticks out. You should notice it straight away. If you press it, the tree will stop moving. There's a passage between the roots that leads into the shrieking shack, it shouldn't be too difficult to find either."

"Okay, I'll try to remember that. What will you do until then?"

"I'm going to see Harry... I have to see him... I really need to know that he's doing fine."

"Excuse Flinky, masters and mistress. An owl gave Flinky this letter."

"Who is it from?"

"From Cheesecake, ma'am." Flinky then gave the letter to Trisha.

"Is this for you, Ed?"

"Yes, it is. It's about our plan." Ed opened the letter and all four of them stuck their heads together to read it.

'To Stripey: I asked her and she agreed. Please tell me a few days in advance when you're going to do it, so that she can come over.'

* * *

Two and a half months later, Ed found himself sitting on a suitcase on a trolley at King's Cross station. He was currently being pushed through a brick wall, which was actually a passage to the red Hogwarts Express. Draco's father had been annoyingly suspicious of him, since the day that the blond brought him there, so he was quite happy to get away from the man's piercing glare.

"Until Christmas holidays, father." Draco said to his father before getting onto the train.

He looked rather excited to get back to school. Ed was looking out the window when he saw Harry entering together with Hermione, Ron and the rest of Ron's huge family. Obviously, they weren't seen by them though, because a little later, Ron opened their compartment door.

"Oh, didn't see you there, Malfoy git." He spat slamming the door shut. "Better watch out you don't wreck public artifacts, you might not be able to pay for the damage."

Draco drawled in his usual volume, but Ron heard it loud and clear.

"What did you say?" Ron demanded.

Harry pulled him back. "Come on, Ron. Let's just find a place to sit down. I need to tell you something."

Draco just shrugged at them and then looked back out the window. As usual the trolley lady came by, from whom Draco bought quite an amount of sweets. Which he shared with Ed. Nearing the end of the journey, the train stopped. Confused students in the nearby compartments opened their doors to look outside. Instantly, Ed knew what was going on the signs were all the same.

_'Dementors...' _He thought.

The lights shut down, the glass on the window froze over and skeletal hands traced its width. Draco saw it too.

"What do we do now?"

_'Nothing, that's what.'_ Ed said, but of course Draco couldn't understand him.

Slowly their door clicked open, and a hooded figure tried to squeeze its way in. Ed clapped his paws together and pounced onto it. The bright blue light turned the horrendous being to nothing but ash. Draco was clearly still shocked from actually coming face-to-face with a dementor and didn't move. A few more entered and Ed disposed of them, but it became very clear to him, that using alchemy in this form was definitely more energy consuming. Why, he couldn't really say yet, but he just felt it. Ed was really tired already, when the lights came back on albeit slowly and the train started moving again. Ed was lying on the bench catching his breath, when his ears picked up movement in the hallway. He quickly swiped all the ash under the bench, where it wouldn't be seen and jumped back up and pretended to sleep. The door opened a mere moment later.

"Are you alright?" A man asked.

He didn't look old physically, but his tattered robes and messy hair made him seem much older. Not to mention he looked quite sickly. Draco merely nodded in response.

"The dementors... Have they gone?"

"Yes, the train's safe now. Did they come in here?"

Draco nodded again.

"Here, have some chocolate, it'll help." The stranger pulled out some chocolate from his robes and held it out of Draco to take.

"Why're you on the train? Who are you?"

"Oh, silly me. I'm the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin. It's a pleasure to meet you." After hearing that, Draco accepted the chocolate and nibbled on it.

"We'll be arriving soon. Don't worry, I assure you, they won't be coming in here again for the rest of this ride. Please excuse, me. I need to see if anyone needs some help."


	32. Friends and Foes!

A/N A bit late again, but I think I'll move my updating day to Sunday. I'm just way too busy during the week and typing everything up on Friday would make the chapter suck... Like the last two chapters... I apologize for them, especially the last one...

Thanks again to KuroiWing and FantomoDrako! x.x Even though the chapters were less than good...

Disclaimer: Don't own. Never will... At least not in the near future...

* * *

As promised, no more dementors disturbed the train ride.

"Man, what's Dumbledore thinking, letting dementors roam around the school? I thought the ministry took them off." Draco said sounding as if he were talking to himself when he got off the train.

It was dark, cloudy and cold with a few stray raindrops falling here and there, as expected when dementors were around.

"I wonder if Dumbledore still thinks that dangerous criminals are on the run." Draco said to Ed in the carriage, before Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy got in.

"Oh! Hi, Drakie! I didn't see you in the train! How were your holidays? Oh, is that your cat? He's such a cutie! Let me pet him!"

"Umm... He doesn't really like-"

"Nonsense! All cats like being petted! Here- Ouch!"

Ed promptly scratched her hand the moment she tried touching his fur.

"Why would you get a cat like that?! What an evil little thing... Oh but, if you like him I guess it's fine." She suddenly said, giving him some kind of fake smile and then turned her attention toward the window.  
_  
'What is wrong with that girl? First she goes from clinging to him, to avoiding him, to insulting him and now she's back to clinging?' _Ed looked over at Draco and he shrugged slightly.

The Thestrals gave him an odd look when he climbed out of the carriage together with the others. While the students headed up to the castle, Ed observed how the cats were gathering into a big group. He decided that was probably where he should head too. At the front of the group was Mrs. Norris, which really irked him. He just couldn't stand that cat. She had her nose held up high as if she were the queen and after flicking her tail sharply to the side once, she led all the cats through a secret passageway behind a bush. It was definitely not big enough for people.  
_  
'Great, a new way into the castle.'_

While walking he tried estimating the size of the tunnel and wondered if it were big enough for a large black dog.  
_  
'Probably not, but it could be after a few modifications...'_

Ed would have liked to follow Draco to the Great Hall, but Mrs. Norris led them right past it. It seemed cats had their own special hall, right next to the kitchens as he soon found out. The elves were all still busy cooking, so they had to wait a bit before eating. Most of the other cats looked like they were catching up with each other, others were playing around. And some newcomers like Ed were just looking around curiously.

After becoming extremely bored watching the other cats, he got up and walked to the half-open door leading to the kitchen. The House-Elves bustled up and down with many different utensils and tub loads of meat and vegetable. The delicious scent of Hogwarts' food wafted to his nose and he wondered what the pets got to eat. As far as he knew, owls got their own food, but he didn't know about cats and toads. His eyes watched each House-Elf closely, trying to figure out which one of them was Elmar, or if she was even there. He didn't have a good view and they were all wearing the similar dirty rags, so it was even harder. A purr sounding somewhat more like a growl made him turn around to look at who or what wanted his attention. A large ginger colored cat with a brush bottle tail stood there looking at him and tilting its head at the same time. Ed imagined that was what a cat's face would look like after he punched it with his automail fist with full power and found it pretty scary how much its gaze resembled that of the skeletal horses.  
_  
'You're not an animal, are you?'_ It seemed to say, while adjusting its head back and shifting his bandy legs into a more comfortable position.

Ed asked himself if he should tell the cat the truth, it was just a cat after all, but a question like that from a cat was just strange. In the end Ed confirmed the cat's suspicions.

It purred again as if saying _'Let's be friends.'_

Ed mewed an okay back to the ginger cat. The elves then brought in bowls with what appeared to be cat food. He'd already gotten used to eating the stuff at Draco's house, but it was still weird to dip his whole face into the food. It tasted like beef. When Ed finished his food, he looked up to see a bowl of milk. For a moment he sat there sending an evil glare at the thing, the ginger colored cat sniggered at him and in return he shot it the same glare the milk had received. One of the House-Elves saw the glaring and quickly went back into the kitchen, bringing out a bowl of water instead.

"Is this better, Mr. Kitty?" It asked.

Before Ed knew what he was doing he nodded at the elf. It was pretty startled at the action.

"Mr. Kitty understands Elmar?" It asked.

Ed's eyes widened. It was Elmar! How hadn't he noticed? Ed tried to tell her who he was, but she didn't understand and just patted him on the head and then walked back into the kitchen. Ed wondered how he could make her understand him, while lapping up the water. Probably his only option was to change back into his normal form. A loud meow brought his attention back to Mrs. Norris, who stood up on a chair. That was when Ed noticed the four small passageways behind her. Each of them had an animal carved above it. A lion, a snake, a badger and an eagle. With her paws Mrs. Norris indicated that they should use the tunnels to get to their master's house. She then strode out of the room, presumably to patrol the halls.  
_  
'What the hell, does this mean I can just go into any common room I want?'_

Ginger, as Ed decided to name the cat for himself, went up to the Gryffindor tunnel and turned his head back to Ed quickly, as if to say good bye and then disappeared into the tunnel. More and more cats left through either of the tunnels and then Ed was the only one left down there. Instead of following the others, he went the same way Mrs. Norris had gone and exited the kitchen and entered the hallway. To his right he saw a staircase which led, if he remembered correctly, up to the entrance hall. It wasn't that late yet, so he decided to go back toward the cat hole and see if he could make it just a little bigger, so that Sirius might fit through it. As a small lion, the whole place just seemed so much bigger than it already was. Ed heard Dumbledore announce the beginning of the feast and loud chatter erupting as he walked past the Great Hall. The paintings high up on the wall were talking about the first-years and not paying him any attention at all. Ed walked right past the tunnel, he had completely forgotten about the portraits. If he did the transmutation now, surely the portraits would notice and he just knew that they would spread some strange rumor of the blue light and the place would be watched more closely. He stopped to scratch his ear briefly and then turned back and walked past the Great Hall again, back down the long stairs and through the kitchen to the tunnel that led down to Slytherin's common room. The tunnel ended behind one of the tapestries of a snake, which explained why he'd never noticed it before. A few cats he recognized from before were sleeping on the couch.  
_  
'Why have I never seen any of them before? They can't all be new.'_

He headed towards the set of stairs that led to the boy's dorms. And stopped at the last one. Looking at the name list, he was mildly surprised that Blaise Zabini was moved in there. He had been in a room by himself after all and since there was space in this room now, there was no reason why he should have had a room to himself. He supposed it might be because having less rooms would cause less strain on the castle's magic or simply because there were more first-years this time. The door opened when he pushed it, probably magic as well. His entrance was met by a cold calculating look. It was another cat, sitting atop the bed he had previously occupied which was most likely Zabini's now. The cat watched him closely as he walked over to Draco's bed and lay down, trying not to pay too much attention to the other cat. Even though it was just a cat it was pretty unnerving how it continued staring at him, he could feel its gaze on his back. Finally he couldn't take it and looked the other cat in the eye, telling it to mind its own business. It didn't take the hint however and continued staring, flicking its tail up and down occasionally. Spotted fur, a tail like a lion and distrustful eyes.  
_  
'Oh... a Kneazle...'_ Ed deduced. _'Are they counted as cats then?'_ He asked himself.

He'd read about them, they were really clever and had an ability to detect suspicious people and he probably was one.  
_  
'Come to think of it. Ginger's probably at least part Kneazle too.'_

Ed jumped off the bed and made his way out again, too annoyed by the Kneazle. He could feel its gaze on him until he moved away from the door. Ed quickly slipped back under the tapestry and sat there for a while, not really knowing what he should do or where he should go now. The arrival of the first students was accompanied by more loud chatter. No wonder there never were many cats around when the students were all there. It was just way too loud for the sensitive ears of felines. Ed decided he couldn't stay there and since he did not want to go back to the weird Kneazle, his only choice was to go back to the kitchen.  
_  
'I might as well try and get Elmar's attention while I'm at it.'_

Since the students had gone, that meant that the feast had ended, which in turn meant that the elves were all busy clearing up all the dishes and utensils. Ed went up to Elmar and pulled at her shirt.

"Oh! It's Mr. Kitty from before. What can Elmar do for Mr. Kitty?"

Ed continued pulling her and then let go, heading towards the exit of the kitchen and looked back at her, motioning for her to follow with his head. The other elves looked disapproving, but didn't tell her to stay there, so she followed him out into the hallway. Ed led her to a classroom, which she had to open for him, since he did not have hands. After checking that the room was indeed empty, he motioned for her to follow him inside and he could see that the elf was feeling quite nervous with the whole situation. When she closed the door again, he walked behind the teacher's desk and transformed back. Elmar's huge eyes widened when she saw him.

"Master Edward!" She shouted, while running towards him as tears streamed out of her eyes.

"Shhh! We can't let anyone else know that I'm here..." He whispered, accepting her hug.

"But master! Why are you here?" She asked, between bouts of sobs with her teary eyes directed at his.

"We need to put an end to the guy who put me in jail. And please, stop calling me master..."

"Who is it, Mr. Edward?"

"Dumbledore, has he made you do anything?" Elmar gasped at that statement, but then became thoughtful.

"He gave Elmar a bottle of water once and told Elmar to put it into the food, but Quinky asked Elmar what she was doing and took the bottle and washed it down the drain. Quinky said that putting water in there would make the food soggy."

"Who's Quinky?"

"Quinky is the head cook, Mr. Edward. And another time, Mr. Dumbledore told Elmar to take Mr. Harry Potter's school robes, when Mr. Harry Potter was playing Quidditch. But Elmar couldn't, for fear that she would be set free, Elmar doesn't want to be free, Elmar wants to go back to the Knights..." She sobbed.

"You will be able to go back, but could you stay here and help me?"

"Anything sir! Elmar will do anything for Mr. Edward."

"First, I've already told you not to call me master or mister, so stop that, please. And the next thing would be that I have a partner who's going to help me take out Dumbledore. But he can't come into the castle, or else he might be caught, so he'll be staying in the Forbidden Forest. You think you might be able to leave some food there for him every day?"

"Yes, Elmar can do that."

"Okay, thanks. Stay strong and don't do anything Dumbledore asks you to do and don't look him in the eyes. Bow down if you have to or throw your hands to the floor or something, just don't look him in the eye and don't consume anything he gives you. I'll call you again when I found something." Ed then turned back into a cat.

Elmar stood up and patted his head with a big teary smile on her face.

"Anything for you, sir! I shall return to my job, Mr. Kitty!" She said happily and then skipped off to the kitchen.

Ed walked out as well and looked out of the tall windows in the hall. It was fairly dark now; the portraits might have gone to sleep already. So, Ed walked back up to the entrance hall, where the portraits were indeed sleeping. He walked back through the tunnel and halfway in, he clapped his paws together and touched the wall with them. In an instant everything lit up, he had to squeeze his eyes shut because it was just too bright for his eyes.  
_  
'God, having sharpened senses can be such a pain...'_ He thought to himself as the light faded and the tunnel seemed big enough for a dog Sirius' size to fit in it. Ed decided to wait a while and see if anyone had noticed anything.

"Turn off the bloody lights..." He heard one of the portraits mumble.

No footsteps could be heard and the mumbling ceased soon after. Quietly, he made his way back down to the common room. Where he found Draco and Blaise discussing something.

"Why do I even have to share a room with you suddenly?" Blaise said rather dejectedly. "It was fine the way it was, I had a room to myself last year."

"Well, how should I know? Why don't you ask Dumbledore? Or Snape?" Draco suggested. He promptly received a glare from the other boy. Draco just shrugged. "It's probably because the kids who're entering school now are those who were born after the war. So it's highly likely that there are more kids now than in the two years before us because in those times people were living in fear."

Ed jumped up onto Draco's lap and curled himself up there.

"Oh hey, where were you?"

"That your cat?" Blaise asked.

"Yeah, I just got him not too long ago."

"Hmm..." With that Blaise got up and left the common room.

"Come on, let's go to sleep too."

* * *

Ed spent the days leading up to Wednesday and the most of that morning checking out which places he still had access to. He couldn't reach anything that was behind doors as well as any place requiring a password, that much was obvious. After eating dinner, Ed went out onto the grounds headed toward the tree Sirius had specified. It was not really a nice experience to walk around the place with so many dementors at the edge of school territory, they hadn't thought of that when they planned their actions. Although it probably wouldn't have too much effect on their plot.

He'd found the tree the previous day and even though he'd stayed out of its attacking range, it still lashed out in his direction. Now that he was up there again, he scanned over the area in search of the knot that had been described. When he thought he'd found it, he waited for the trees branches to set their direction and then as they were coming down in front of him, he bolted around it and scrambled further to one side to avoid the branches that swept his way. They continued sweeping in one direction, so he didn't really have a choice but to run one round and reach the knot he hoped was the right one. Immediately after pouncing on it, the tree returned to its original position and ceased all movement as if it were a normal tree. Ed breathed out a sigh of relief and entered the tunnel that was plainly visible, now that violent branches weren't blocking his sight and trying to kill him. He jumped down the tunnel that resembled an earthen slide and then found himself in a house. It was definitely a house, but it was badly maintained and looked like it hadn't had any occupants for a very long time. He climbed up the stairs and looked around. Sirius was already waiting for him in one of the rooms, sitting on a torn up bed.

"What took you so long?"

"Had to figure out how I should avoid the violent tree." Ed mumbled when he transformed back.

When he looked at Sirius, there was a sort of mad look in his eyes, although he could tell it wasn't directed towards him.

"And you? Nothing happened to you on the way right?"

Sirius took out what looked like an issue of the daily prophet and tossed the papers toward Ed, who caught them easily.

"He's here. I'm going to rip him apart... He put Harry in such a miserable situation; I won't ever forgive him for that. I saw it myself!"

Ed directed his attention toward the papers in his hands. On the front page was a picture of the whole Weasley family, all waving at the camera enthusiastically.

"Who?" Ed asked, he wasn't sure he knew what Sirius meant.

Sirius stood up abruptly from where he was sitting and snatched the papers out of Ed's hands. He tossed it with the picture on top on a tabletop and jabbed his index finger rapidly at some point on the picture.

"Here! This little bastard!"

More jabs at the picture.

"This little freak! The betrayer!" He yelled.

"Sirius! Calm down! We'll be heard and I can't see anything..." Ed tried.

Sirius lifted the papers up and shook it in front of his face.

"Don't you see him!? He's right there!" Sirius shouted again.

Ed grabbed the paper out of the man's trembling hands and looked around the spot he thought Sirius had been poking. He had an idea what to look for, but he wasn't sure if Sirius was just hallucinating. Indeed he found a little rat crawling on one of the Weasley's shoulders.

"That's Peter Pettigrew? How the hell are we going to find him in Hogwarts?"

"He has to be here. Look he's on their youngest son's shoulder, that has to be his owner. He attends Hogwarts, so he has to be here. We need to find him and get rid of the traitor!"

"What good will that do?"

"Revenge!"

"If you get your revenge, after all this is over, you'll still be sent back to Azkaban! Do you want that?"

That seemed to make him think.

"You'd be sent there again because of a little rat." Ed continued.

"Then what do you propose we do!?"

"The same as with Dumbledore, we'll bring him to the minister's place. Quietly if possible."

"But I need to get my revenge..." Sirius mumbled.

Clearly the approach he'd been trying to use wasn't going to work; he needed to think of something fast.

"James and Lily, they wouldn't have wanted the whole world to see you as a murderer, would they? You aren't one now, but if you go through with your plan, than you will be and no one can deny it."

Sirius looked to the floor and contemplated what had been said. "So? How do you plan to do it? How are you going to lure that little rat out of his hiding hole?"

Ed thought for a bit before getting an idea. "We could ask that ginger cat, I'm sure it would know where the rat is. It chased it everywhere during the past few days."

"Ginger cat?"

"Yeah, I met it on the first day. From what I've seen 'till now, it doesn't really like Scabbers, that's what Ron calls his rat by the way."

"Ron's the Weasley kid, right? So, is there a way for me to get inside the castle?"

"Yeah, you can use the cat entrance; I made it a little bigger so you should be able to fit through it. But it'll lead you to the entrance hall, so you have to be careful not to be seen. But what about a Portkey? Did you get one?"

"Yeah, I went to the minister's place before I came here and he gave me one. All that's left is to write to him and tell him we'd be coming. You think we have enough Veritaserum for two?"

Ed shook his head. "It'd be a waste on Pettigrew anyway. We should just ask the minister for a normal one. I'll try and get Draco to send the minister a letter with the things we'll need, it would take too long for you to go back there and come back here again. I asked Elmar to leave some food out for you, so you should be fine unless something gets to it before you do."

"That's great, thanks. Let's meet up again tomorrow."

"I don't know how fast the letter will arrive, but we'll let the minister know that he should be expecting company some time soon." Ed turned to leave, but then he remembered something. "Oh yeah, the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor, it's that friend of yours, Remus Lupin."


	33. Get that Rat!

A/N Thanks for the reviews! There seem to only be two on every chapter nowadays... I really appreciate them.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter related!

* * *

Ed crouched low in the grass, watching Ginger chase the little rat across the lawn. He had to wait for the right moment. Slowly they were getting closer and closer and then... Jump! Ed pounced and tried to get a hold of the thing, but it slipped through his paws and disappeared somewhere behind him. Ginger stopped running and both turned to watch the little rat make a big round and then head up to the castle. After Ed told Sirius who the new professor was, he started laughing and said that it was great the he was the professor and that it fitted him. But then he insisted on keeping away from the Shrieking Shack for all days close to the full moon. Ed didn't understand why, Sirius ignored him when he asked and he just didn't want to think too much about it, they had other things they needed to focus on. But still, it might have been the reason why Ed felt extremely distracted. They received a reply from the minister asking them why they did not have enough Veritaserum for just one more person.  
_  
'Technically it would be enough, but we can't take any chances with Dumbledore. If he escapes us once, he'll always be prepared for another attack.'_ Ed said to himself on the way back to the school.

Of course they'd sent a letter back saying exactly that, but Ed wasn't so sure that the minister agreed. From his point of view, they were probably just wasting valuable serum, but he did not state it outright. They were going to try and catch Scabbers tonight and for that, they had been trying to wear him out by making him run around the place the whole day. The cat with the squashed face had agreed right away to dispose of the rat and had been tailing it ever since. Sirius already had himself stationed near the edge of the forest, but as much as he would have liked to tackle Pettigrew there, Ed had warned him that his chance to capture him would forever be ruined if he managed to escape, as in Dumbledore's case. That's why they had to wait 'till he went back to Gryffindor tower, where Ron usually brought some bread for him from the Great Hall. Ed walked beside the ginger colored cat back to the kitchens to get something to eat and to rest. Finally the sun set. Most of the cats had already disappeared somewhere, either back to their owner's houses or to explore the castle. It would be time to leave soon, Ed wanted to go right up the Gryffindor tunnel, but Ginger stopped him momentarily. It seemed to be thinking its decision over once more.  
_  
'Please, don't change your mind...'_ Ed silently begged.

It looked at Ed seriously one last time and then turned around and led the way._ 'You better not do anything unrelated to catching Scabbers up there.' _The look had emphasized.

Ed let out a sigh of relief and glanced back once to his House-Elf and then followed the other cat.

While the two went through the tunnel, Sirius would be getting in through the enlarged cat tunnel at the entrance, Elmar had been asked to make sure that Mrs. Norris and anyone else that might be around would not see Sirius. The tunnel to Gryffindor tower was much longer than the one to the dungeons, owing to the fact that they had to walk up a spiral staircase that led all the way up to the common room. The steps were obviously made for cats though, so it wasn't as bad as running up seven flights of stairs made for humans. The stairs ended under one of the huge couches in Gryffindor tower. Ed looked at the clock standing in the room. They had fifteen more minutes to the appointed time. They had been watching Pettigrew for a few days now and were quite sure when he would come back, so they went back down into the tunnel, just enough so that their heads could not be seen sticking up. A little later, a rat came through a small hole in the wall; they heard it by the soft stepping noises against the floor. For a moment it was quiet, Ed assumed Pettigrew was looking around to see if they were around. Then the steps could be heard again. Ed couldn't stop himself from peaking up a little. He knew it could have jeopardized the plan, but he just had to know if Scabbers was really walking to the stairs that led to the boy's dorms. He was relieved to see the end of the rat tail go up the stairs and vanish around the corner. Ginger gave him a somewhat irritated look and Ed tried his best to look apologetic. He snuck out from under the couch carefully and walked up to where the portrait hole was. Clapping his paws, Ed placed them on the wall beside it. Once again, the blue light flashed leaving behind a hole big enough for a dog. The few moments they had to wait 'till Sirius arrived were agonizing; Ed constantly hoped that no one would just come bursting in on them. Thankfully, it didn't last too long, because a patch of black covered his vision. He only realized it was Sirius after said dog had his drooling face in front of Ed's. Sirius wagged his tail playfully and then made his way to the stairs as quietly as was possible for an excited dog. Time was probably not going to be a problem as long as they didn't play around, since all the students were still at dinner. Just outside of the room, Sirius changed back into his normal shape. On the count of three, Ed and the ginger colored cat rushed into the room, Sirius following them and slamming the door shut the moment he was inside. Something on Ron's bed jumped up from the loud noise the door had made and tried to scurry up the curtains of the four poster bed. Sirius pulled his wand and locked the door magically just in case someone would try and disturb them.

"Come out here, Peter! I know you're up there, you stinking little worm!"

There was no response from the rat, so Ed followed it up, making it jump down right into the arms of the ginger cat. He hissed at the rat and swiped at it. Pettigrew barely managed to avoid it and then bit the cat's paw and ran away under one of the cabinets as Ginger cried out in pain. Sirius tried firing a spell at it, but missed. Ed gave chase as soon as he got back down and dashed under the cabinet as well. Peter squeaked fearfully when his tail got caught between Ed's paw and the ground. Making sure the tail did not slip from his grasp, Ed slowly pulled the rat out from under the cabinet. It tried running in all directions, but Ed held it tightly. To get a better grip on the thing, he changed back into his human shape.

"Thanks, little friend." Ed said to the cat that looked up at him with its usual expression.

"Shall we get going?" Sirius asked, pulling out the Portkey, a cup.

"Yeah. We'll be right back. Oh yeah, we need to unlock the door again, so he can get out of here too."

Sirius just flicked his wand at the door, unlocking it again in an instant. "Let's go now!" He said, eyeing the rat dangling from Ed's hand dangerously.

Ed tightened his grip on their prey and used his free hand to grab onto the cup. Sirius nodded once at him and then said the activation words out loud and clear.

"Cheesecake!"

Ed felt a strange tugging sensation at his stomach and somehow it was hard not to release his hold on both things. But he fought hard not to let go. Before he knew it, his feet hit ground and he landed hard on his behind. In that brief moment in which his grip loosened a bit, the rat wriggled its tail out of his hand. Ed turned around immediately and snatched at it, but he couldn't reach it. But the rat couldn't escape either. Ed watched in amazement as its legs struggled to move forward in the air and it floated up slowly. A woman, whom he did not know, had her wand pointed at it.

"Yuck! A rat! How could you bring such filth here?"

"Good thing you caught it and you happen to be right, that thing is filth. It's Peter Pettigrew." Sirius stated matter of factly. The woman didn't seem too surprised, which was a surprising fact.

"Illegal Animagus? I can easily see that happening" she said.

Ed's eyes caught the movement of an acid green quill scratching on a piece of parchment all by itself on the table behind the minister.

"Really?" The minister asked incredulously. "Can you prove it, please?"

"Before that, we have to make sure that all the exits are sealed and that there are no objects around that could be used to his advantage, just in case." Ed said.

The minister took out his wand and vanished a few items that would fall under that category while Sirius locked all the doors magically.

"By the way, I'm Rita Skeeter, journalist for the Daily Prophet. You've read it of course?"

"Yeah, although I can't agree with all the articles." Ed stated, pulling out his wand as well and aiming it at the rat. The other two had their wands pointed at it too.

"On the count of three." Sirius said.

"One." The rat twitched around

"Two." It shook and twisted here and there.

"Three!" A ball of energy shot out of Sirius wand. Scabbers the rat twisted and turned and wriggled violently, squeaking all the while before transforming into a short dirty looking man, with ratty features.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" He screamed.

"Well, what do you know? It really is the supposedly dead man, Peter Pettigrew, who received various awards for confronting supposed murderer Sirius Black." Rita said, immediately flashing pictures of the man. "You were right minister. This will make a sensational story! And it won't even need exaggerating."

"Please, Sirius! Don't do this to me! Think about James and Lily-"

"Don't you even dare take their names into your dirty trap, you traitor!"

"B-B-But Sirius, I had no choice! He would have killed me!"

"Then you should have let him kill you, just like we would have done for you, you little-"

"Sirius could you shut up?" Ed interrupted.

"No! He's the traitor and he's still trying to defend himself-"

"I understand that you want to beat him to a pulp right now." Pettigrew flinched at those words. "But you've got to keep your cool for a little longer. We need to interrogate him remember?"

Rita nodded her head vigorously at the suggestion. Sirius looked to the ground with shaking fists. The other three waited patiently with their wands still directed at Pettigrew who did not dare move.

"Alright." He finally agreed.

Sirius cast the Full Body-Bind Curse on him, rendering him immobile and making him fall to the ground. His eyes watched in fear as the minister walked toward him, pulling out a vial from his pocket. In it a clear and fluid liquid could be seen. As the minister approached, Pettigrew started wiggling around. He must have been quite desperate, or else there would have been no way that he could move under the effects of the curse. Sirius struggled to keep him from moving.

"Please! Please! Sirius! Old friend! Don't do this to me!" He managed to squeak out.

"Old friend? Bah! You betrayed James and Lily and framed me for your crime! We gave you everything you had in school! Your popularity and even our friendship! And how do you repay us? By betraying us! And you still dare to call me an old friend? Die, you little worm!"

In some way, Ed did feel sorry for Pettigrew. Sirius was definitely scary when he was angry. Pettigrew tried shaking around even more, but all Ed had to do was step on his shoulder a little too hard and the man stopped his shaking and whimpered instead. The minister opened the man's mouth and poured the liquid down his throat. Sirius forced it down his throat and made sure that he didn't spit any of it out. In a matter of seconds his expression turned from horrified to lax. The minister cleared his throat and began the interrogation.

"What's your full name?"

"Peter Pettigrew." He stated. The emotionless way in which he said it was such a big difference from his near begging tone before.

"Were you the Potters' secret keeper?"

"Yes." He answered.

The minister took a deep breath. "Did you betray the Potters?"

Another affirmative.

Sirius had a small triumphant smile on his face.

"Whom did you betray them to?"

"Albus Dumbledore." Rita Skeeter gasped out loud, quickly jotting down a few notes herself.

"Did you blow up the street full of muggles after you claimed that Sirius Black had betrayed his friends?"

"Yes."

"Why did you betray your only friends?" Sirius suddenly asked. He sounded sad and angry at the same time.

"Because Dumbledore was stronger and he would win anyway. I didn't want to die."

"What is Dumbledore planing?" Rita cut in, bending forward like an excited child.

"He simply said that he was 'going to mess the government up'. I don't know why."

"How did you get into the Weasley's family?"

"Dumbledore said that one of the Weasley kids would no doubt befriend Potter, so he gave me to one of them as a pet."

"That stinkin-" Sirius started cursing wildly.

Suddenly that panicky look returned to Pettigrew's face. "No! Don't! Please let me go! Sirius! Haven't I been such a good friend during our school days? I always helped out in your pranks a-and-"

"SHUT UP!" Sirius yelled at him.

He got his wand out, but luckily, Ed stopped him by grabbing his wrist and giving him a stern look that probably rivaled McGonagall's. Whatever he had been about to use, it would definitely not have been very nice.

"Well then Gentlemen, I think we're done here. I will bring Pettigrew to court tomorrow. Since there is not much evidence that would support him, I expect he'll be in Azkaban by noon tomorrow even if they insist on going over the interrogation again. Of course I'll have him put into a high security ward, Animagi ability taken into account."

"No! Please, no! Not Azkaban! Please! I beg you! Edward Elric, haven't I always been a good rat? I even bit Goyle's kid and protected you in your first year!"

Ed took a step away from the cowering man and shrugged. "It's not enough to clear you of your crimes. Remember? You killed thirteen muggles and let many more be witness to the act." Then he turned to the minister. "If you don't mind..." He said and then clapped his hands and touched the floor making a big stone cage around Pettigrew. It was stable enough so that he couldn't break out with brute force, but also the holes were small enough so that even a rat wouldn't be able to fit through it. "This ought to stop him from running away." Ed said swiping the dust of his hands.

"My floor!"

"Can't you just rebuild it later? What's more important, your floor or the fact that there is no way for Pettigrew to escape you now?"

"I guess I could replace it later." The minister finally agreed. He flicked his wand and fetched a used up bottle of ink and a handkerchief. "This Portkey will bring you just outside of Hogwarts, to the Quidditch field. I realize that there are dementors around and after thinking about it, I found this to be the best solution. The password is the same one as before. This other one will bring you to my office in the ministry. If Pettigrew is arrested, and the truth about Dumbledore comes out, then the Wizengamot will surely want to question him themselves."

Something felt weird, but Ed wasn't sure what it was. Their return trip went without a hitch. Ed swiftly moved through the corridors and the special tunnels and arrived back in the Slytherin common room. Ed was walking down the stairs when he felt an odd presence. He turned around and saw that it was that Kneazle. It just glared at him. Seconds passed and then minutes and neither of them moved. Finally Ed turned around and went down to the dorms, if it wasn't going to move, then he wasn't going to care and since it was already well past midnight, he really should be getting some sleep

* * *

The next day, Al unexpectedly came to visit him.  
_  
'Woah, Ed! You became shorter!'_

_'No, I didn't! You're just imagining things!'_ Ed retorted.  
_  
'Hahaha, so really why does it seem like you've become shorter?'_

_'I've become an Animagus, so I can change into an animal at will now.' _Ed said proudly.  
_  
'Eh? So what animal is this? A cat?' _Al asked hopefully.

Ed had to grind his teeth not to shout at Al, he guessed it couldn't really be helped.  
_  
'No, Al. I'm a lion. Just a young one...'_

_'Oh! I'm sorry, brother.'_

_'It's alright, so what did you come here for?'_

_'I've been trying to figure out that magical gate and I've come to the conclusion that it has to have some kind of physical manifestation on your side. I'm not entirely sure about this one, but it might be somewhere close, I mean it's probably in the same country. If it really is a magical form of the gate, then naturally it would be quite powerful. If you could find it, then I guess it'd be possible to come back!'_

Ed's spirit lifted at this information, but the thought of how many places he'd have to search in to find it was disheartening.  
_  
'It could be anywhere!'_

_'Yeah, but at least it has to be somewhere, right? We're not chasing after something that doesn't exist. So how's your mission going?'_

_'We've caught Peter Pettigrew, who's at the root of Sirius' problems. We still need to catch Dumbledore and I get a feeling that it's not going to be easy.'_

_'But you have it planned out, right?'_

_'Yeah.'_

_'Brother, I'm going to continue looking for information, although I'm not sure what I might find, I'm not going to give up. I really want to see you soon!'_  
_  
'Yeah, see you soon Al.'  
_  
After lunch, Ed went to look for Draco in the hallways; he wanted to see the papers. While looking for him, Ed saw Pansy in one of the corridors. She saw him too, and then quickly ran around the next corner. Ed didn't know what to think of that and wanted to go, but she came back. Broom in hand, she charged. Ed jumped and avoided her swipe, hissing at her.

"Stupid cat! You're taking Draco away from me! I have to befriend him, so that I can marry him one day, so that I'll have the best blood status possible! He doesn't need a creature like you!"

She swiped a few more times, all of which Ed avoided and then he ran and hoped to lose her somehow. Just around the next corner he ran into his blond friend. Pansy, as clumsy as she was, rounded the corner and banged into him, both of them falling to the ground.

"What the hell man, Pansy! Watch where you're going, won't you?" He asked and then he noticed the broom in her hand. "Pansy, what are you trying to do with that? You weren't trying to hit my cat, were you? Have you lost your mind?" He shouted at her.

"I'm sorry, Drakiepoo!" She screamed and ran away with the broom.

Draco was still seething at Pansy, when Ed saw the papers and nudged them. Draco handed them to him and then realized he would be late for classes if he didn't hurry up.

"See you later!"

Ed nodded and then took the day's copy of the Daily Prophet in his mouth and walked off trying to look as if he was playing with it. Ed flipped through the articles back in the common room, but he couldn't find anything about what had happened. Had Fudge tricked them? Did something go wrong? The moving of the tapestry alerted him to the entrance of a cat. Unsurprisingly, it was that Kneazle again. Under further inspection though, Ed saw that it too was carrying some parchment, a letter, in its mouth. Ed's eyes went wide when he saw the name of the sender on the back of the envelope.  
_  
'Cheesecake? That's definitely not meant for Blaise.'_

Ed jumped up and sprinted as fast as he could toward the Kneazle, who turned around abruptly and ran away.  
_  
'Shit! I can't let that stupid thing show it to anyone!'_

The pair chased each other a few rounds in the kitchen, making a big mess and then running up the stairs and across the entrance hall, up two flights of stairs, across another corridor, down more stairwells and then through the entrance hall once again and out through the large oak doors. In any normal situation, Ed knew he would have stopped running a long time ago, but the adrenaline kept him going. The Kneazle must have been thinking it could lose him in the forest, because it ran straight into it. Ed started panicking when he nearly did lose the thief. A loud cry made him turn in its direction and head for the source. A big dog had the Kneazle pinned to the ground and was growling dangerously at it. Ed easily picked up the letter that lay on the floor and thanked Sirius. Figuring that Draco wouldn't mind him opening the letter since it came from 'Cheesecake', Ed decided to open the letter right there, since Sirius could also read it and so that it wouldn't go into the wrong hands. With one of his claws, he slid the envelope open and using his tail he managed to unfold the letter within.

It read: 'Rat in Azkaban. Not publishing yet. Don't know how 'he' will react. Bring serum for examination by 'W'. Get 'him' as soon as possible, I'll be waiting.'

Ed breathed out a sigh of relief. He hadn't even thought that Dumbledore might strengthen his defensive measures if they published something like that. 'W' was probably the Wizengamot. Ed shoved the letter over to Sirius. While he read, Ed clapped his paws and placed them on the envelope, which burst into ashes after that. Ed repeated the process on the letter when Sirius nodded to him, saying that he was done reading. Sirius let the Kneazle go again. It ran back to the castle as fast as it could. When they were sure no one was looking, Sirius changed back and used the Portkey immediately after.  
_  
'One more task ahead, then I can work on getting back.' _Ed thought to himself.


	34. Return!

A/N Hi and welcome to the last chapter of this story! Sorry for a late update once again, but this chapter's longer (nearly double). I want to thank everyone who's read this far, you did a great job. I honestly didn't think I could finish this.

To DemonRaily: I guess I didn't express myself clearly; I never planned to write that far. But it was also not supposed to end in the third year. If you must know, Ed beat me up because he didn't want to play wizard anymore. He said it's the most ridiculous thing he's ever had to do and asked me to finish it up already... Well, basically the story took on a life of its own (I know that's bad because the author's supposed to be in control, but I can't help it either).

To Nordlicht: Danke, dass du mein Deutsch lobst. Dein Englisch muss auch ziemlich gut sein, dass du so weit gelesen hast. Wir haben in der Schule Deutsch als Hauptsprache, aber ich kann es eigentlich nicht so gut. (Kasusfehler usw.)

Disclaimer: Don't own and probably never will.

* * *

Ed was lazing around on the bed early in the morning, Draco's bed to be precise. The other teen had already gone up to have his breakfast. Blaise's Kneazle was shooting him wary glances; apparently he wasn't what he expected him to be. Ed found he rather enjoyed scaring the irritating thing. Ginger was much happier without Scabbers around, but Hermione and Ron were either arguing or completely ignoring each other. Ron accused Hermione's cat, namely Ginger or Crookshanks as he had recently found out after overhearing one of the arguments, of having eaten his rat.  
_  
'I couldn't have eaten that disgusting rat even if my life was on the line.'_ Ed thought.

Now that Crookshanks had protected his owner, he seemed pretty bored, so it might be possible to ask for his help once more. But currently Ed was waiting for news from either the minister or Sirius, he hadn't heard from either of them since he had received the letter. So, naturally he was distracted and was trying to think of possible places where this magical gate could be. When he actually thought about it, he came to the conclusion that it would have to be someplace with a high concentration of magic. Places that came up were Azkaban or other wizarding prisons if there were any, the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and the alleys connected to it and possibly houses belonging to rich and old wizarding families. Ed sat up abruptly when he heard loud footsteps racing down the stairs and then two huge boys nearly slamming the door open.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty..." Both Crabbe and Goyle were repeating over and over again while slowly closing the distance between them and Ed. "Pansy said we should strangle you, because then Draco would be happy with us. So, don't take it personally..."

As soon as they were close enough, Ed jumped and climbed up Crabbe's arm while scratching it up, jumped off his head and dashed for the door. Just as he was about to run up the stairs, he banged head first into Draco's leg, who was also rather stunned, especially when the other two came lumbering out.

"What, may I ask are you two doing?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uhhh... Pansy said you'd be really happy if we handed her your dead cat..."

"Can't you guys think for yourself for once? Why in the world would I be happy if you strangled _my_ cat?"

"Uhhh..."

Draco picked Ed up and walked back into the room, grabbed his school stuff and left, leaving the two confused idiots standing there. After walking for a while, he set Ed down near the kitchens.

"There's a cats' place here, right? None of them should know about it, so you'll be safe. I really wonder what that idiot Pansy is thinking though..." Before he left, he took out a letter from his pocket and gave it to Ed. "I think this is for you. Good luck!"

Ed looked at the letter and looked who it was from.  
_  
'Snuffles? Now where have I heard that before... ?'_

And then he remembered that it was what they had called Sirius during they're escape.  
_  
'What the hell is he thinking! After what happened to the other letter, he could have contacted me some other way...'_

Ed walked into the cat place and put the letter down. He looked around to see that no one was there yet, so he decided to open it there. Using one of his sharp claws, he carefully slit the envelope open and pulled out its contents.

'Everything's okay. Back already.' Is what it said.

Ed clapped his paws and destroyed the letter. When the House-Elves looked over because of the blinding blue light, he just sat there and pretended not to know anything and looked back at them hungrily.

They hadn't decided how exactly they were going to proceed with Dumbledore. Monitering Dumbledore would be more difficult than monitering Scabbers, because it would be painfully obvious who they were and what they were up to if they did. But Ed wondered if he even followed a daily schedule besides appearing for meals most of the time and occasionally Quidditch games.  
_  
'If Elmar or Crookshanks could try and find out...'_ At that moment Elmar came in running and crying. She flung herself onto him and continued to sob.

Ed motioned her to follow him to an abandoned classroom.

"Shh... Stop crying, you'll be heard. What happened?" He asked her when they were alone.

"Sir! Mr. Dumbledore asked Elmar to go back home, sir! Now Elmar can't help you, sir!" She wailed, not really able to control her tears.

"It's alright, and you can even tell Trisha and Alphonse that I'm fine. You don't have to be so sad." He said to her.

Sometimes it bugged him how sensitive some House-Elves could be, but he couldn't really get angry with them.

"Really, Edward?" She asked him after rubbing her fingers together nervously for a long time and getting her tears under control.

"Yeah."

Her tear streaked face cracked into a small smile. After a little more sniffing, she finally said: "Elmar should be going back now. Good luck Edward." All the while she rubbed her fingers together nervously.

"Yeah, thanks I'll need it." Elmar then used her elven magic to apparate.

Ed changed back into a cat and wondered aimlessly around the halls, trying to come up with a plan. He now had one ally less in this fight.

Back in Amestris, he and Al hardly ever relied on other people; he was too stubborn to ask for help anyway. A meowing sound brought him out of his thoughts. Crookshanks motioned for him to follow, so he did. They walked up to the Forbidden Forest and entered it. Ed was getting tired after walking around in there for ages, but just a little later they exited the forest again. To his surprise, he realized they were on a hill overlooking what must have been Hogsmead. It seemed to be bustling with activity; the whole place was filled with students. Ed remembered that it was the Hogsmead weekend, which only served to puzzle him as to the reason why Crookshanks would bring him here. Then he thought they might not actually be heading for it, but just passing by. That idea was quickly thrown away, when Crookshanks continued walking straight for it. The village was actually much bigger than Ed had expected. All the houses were old fashioned, but well maintained, especially those closest to what was no doubt the main road. It was difficult to wind their way around the students' legs, but eventually they bent into a less crowded street. There were no shops there; it seemed to be the living quarters. Crookshanks walked up to one of the bigger houses and entered it through the cat flap in the door. Ed followed, although he felt uncomfortable about the situation. The house was much warmer than the autumn air outside and much better for him, because lions generally enjoyed warm climate more. Footsteps came down the stairs, Ed ran and hid under one of the couches, looking to see who it was. Crookshanks didn't move and a moment later Ed found out why. It was none other than Sirius who had come. Ed crawled out from underneath the couch again.

"Sirius! What are you doing here?" Ed asked.

"Hey Ed! I know it wasn't the best idea, but I hope you got my letter?"

"Yeah, I did, but-"

"I know, I know. Let me explain. When I went to the Ministry of Magic, I let Fudge and a few other people he trusts see the serum you brewed, don't worry, they swore an unbreakable vow with me, same conditions as with Fudge. They were most impressed with it and agreed that it should be used to interrogate Dumbledore. They also told me, that with proof we've gathered of the actual murderer of those muggles and the one who betrayed James and Lily, I'm as good as free. They just can't announce it yet because they also can't announce that Pettigrew is alive and guilty."

"And so why are we in this house?" Ed asked impatiently, it was good news and all, but he feared someone might enter and discover them.

"One of those guys who's now on our side lent it to me. Said it'd be more comfortable than sleeping outside in the forest. How right he is. Don't worry, really no one can come in here, it's well locked up. The only way in is through the flap on the back door. Well, accept if you had the keys, which I do have, but it's just easier to keep this place locked up."

"But wouldn't it look weird if he had animals coming in here all the time?"

"Nah, although he doesn't know about our Animagus forms, in some random chitchat he said that he has quite a lot of animals at his main house just outside of London, said he's an animal lover."

Ed breathed out a sigh of relief and dropped himself onto the couch. Since there was obviously a reason why they shouldn't be using the Shrieking Shack, it was nice to know there was a place they could talk in undisturbed.

"But there's no time to rest just yet. We need to come up with something." Ed said.

"Yeah, true. I just have no idea what." Sirius said.

Then he went to the kitchen and got out some food for Crookshanks.

"Sirius, do you happen to know where the Headmaster's office is?" Ed asked thoughtfully. "The last time I was there, I was unconscious on the way."

"Yeah, I do know, in fact I know it all too well. I was a frequent visitor with all the pranks we were pulling. I know nearly all the hallways and rooms. You could even say that I know it like the back of my hand." He said proudly, but then sobered up a bit.

"But so does Remus. I wonder if he got the map back, I hope not. We wouldn't be able to travel Hogwarts grounds undetected if he really did get it back."

"Why what does it do?"

"It shows Hogwarts with all its passwords and halls, but not only that, it will show the names of all people currently on the grounds, where they are and where they're going. So, I don't even know if you should go back onto the grounds..."

"What! Why didn't you tell me earlier? Dumbledore might already know that we're here! Lupin might have already told him!"

"Calm down. I doubt he had the map; it was confiscated sometime in our last school year by Filch no less. If you've ever met him I'm sure you can imagine that he wouldn't let go of something he had confiscated that easily, especially if that something was an object he could not identify. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't even return it if the person became a teacher."

Ed thought for a bit, sure Sirius had a point there, but one also had to consider the situation. They were 'highly dangerous criminals', who broke out of jail and there was a chance that they'd attack the students, or from the rumors that floated about, one particular student. Then something Sirius said made him wonder.

"So he doesn't know what it does?"

"If he hasn't found out over the years, then no. It looks just like any spare piece of parchment, you see. But it has an activation password and it won't give up its secrets with just a simple spell. It was made by us after all."

Ed nodded taking in the information. "Is there any chance either one of you could recreate it?"

"Hell no, Remus put in quite a few spells, but James did most of them, especially concerning the location of people at any time. I did most of the drawings, together with Peter, although he really didn't do much and we all explored Hogwarts together. There's no way either one of us could recreate the map in a useful way. And I probably wouldn't be able to draw the castle in the correct proportions without checking out the place again."

Ed had to agree to that, he did make something similar all by himself, but he hadn't put in those tracking spells and all the other fancy stuff they seemed to have put into it. Besides, Sirius claimed he knew Hogwarts really well, so it wouldn't make a big difference if they had a map or not.

"Okay, that's good then. But we'll have to come up with a plan that doesn't involve us staying on the grounds for long periods of time."

"Argh, isn't that hopeless? What plan involving the capturing of Dumbledore, will not involve us being there for a long time?"

"But you agree that with a good plan, we could lessen the time?"

Sirius grumbled something, but it seemed that he agreed. Ed stared into the flickering flames in the fireplace, trying to come up with something. After thinking things through for a bit, he thought that he had come up with a reasonably good estimation of the time they would need and the best time for their attempt at capturing the old headmaster.

"Okay, listen up. This is what we'll do..."

* * *

Several days later, Crookshanks came back through the cat flap in the door to report what he had seen.

_"Crookshanks will keep track of Lupin for a while to see if he has the map, if he does come back and tell us, okay? If he doesn't go, and see if you can learn anything from Dumbledore."_

The cat reported that Dumbledore was mostly in his office.

"Do you know what the password is?" Ed asked hopefully.

The cat gave him a sign that it did; now the problem was finding out what it was exactly. But there seemed to be a solution for that as it motioned for Ed to follow it out onto the streets. Sirius had to stay behind, since wizards could be extremely superstitious and even if they weren't, a big black dog would stick out like a sore thumb. They winded their way through the streets. It wasn't as crowded as the other day, but still there were quite a few people out today. Crookshanks stopped in front of Honeyduke's. First Ed was wondering what Crookshanks intended to do, as it had its virtually flat face pressed against the window. But the next thing he knew he was running away from the shop as if his live depended on it. Crookshanks had run into the shop as soon as someone entered and had opened the door. The bandy-legged cat was fast, really fast. It snagged some sweet and then rushed out of the store, Ed running after it as soon as he had realized what it had done. Of course they were being followed closely by one angry store owner. They had to make a large detour and run around the villager twice before finally being able to lose the man. When they got back into the house, Ed was too tired to even think of being angry with the cat. Running on four legs was still quite a challenge, especially for a long time and at a high speed. Sirius twirled the confection in his fingers, trying to figure out the meaning behind it.

"So, that's the password?" Ed asked, changing back after he caught his breath.

"This is the password?" Sirius repeated. "Oh yeah! That's possible. During my school time Dumbledore's password could have been any sweet, from muggle sweets to wizard sweets." Sirius said, then after thinking about it a bit added: "But usually they were muggle sweets. Anyway let's stop wasting time here, can't allow him to do any harm to Harry or any others..."

"Right, let's go through the plan once more and then get going."

It was nearly dusk when both Ed and Sirius made their way through the cat tunnel at the entrance.

The Great Hall was filled with laughter and chatter.

_"We'll make our way to his office while they're eating."_

As expected, no one was around, not even Mrs. Norris. Sirius led the way up to Dumbledore's office. The voices could now be heard in the halls, the meal was ending, and some who left early were on their way to their common rooms. Ed and Sirius had to hurry. The choice of timing was purely intentional, their plan wouldn't work if they were too early, but being too late wouldn't be good either, as they would either be on the grounds too long for their liking, or Dumbledore would be waiting for them. Crookshanks joined them on their way there, they were not on a path people normally took to get to their common rooms, so there was not a big fear of being detected. The darkness also helped them hide from the portraits. The stone Gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office was easy to find. Both of them made sure that the hallway was clear and then changed back.

"Sugar Quill." They whispered into the darkness.

The gargoyle jumped to the side, surprising Ed. Sirius grinned at that, but refrained from laughing, because it might blow their cover. Crookshanks was the first to make a move; he climbed up the spiral staircase, followed closely by the other two. The room was just as strange as Ed had remembered it. The silver instruments whirred around on the odd spindly legged tables.

_"We'll make a trapdoor to hide in, so we won't be seen."_

Before he could look around more, a fiery red object assaulted him, knocking him backward onto the ground. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that it must have been Dumbledore's bird, a phoenix judging by the looks. It wasn't in its best stage in life, but the colors were still very vibrant. The ginger colored cat jumped and scratched the bird, which screeched in response. Before it could compose itself, it was attacked again, this time the cat jumped onto it and tried lodging itself there. The bird shrieked louder. Ed quickly transmutated a hole with a trapdoor in the floor, cast an Imperturbable charm on it and grabbed the phoenix, that was flapping around madly trying to get the cat off of it. Crookshanks let go and Ed stuffed the bird in the hole and shut it, sealing it with another transmutation. He wasn't an animal torturer and he felt bad for shutting it down there, but it was just making too much noise. Still, he left a hole just big enough for it to get enough air, but not big enough for it to come out or stick its beak over the silencing boundaries. Those charms were actually pretty nifty, as you could hear what was around you, but no one else could hear what you were talking about. The cat walked out of the room, as it felt that its duty was done. He proceeded to make a space under the floor for the two of them and cast an Imperturbable charm on it as well. Sirius meanwhile searched for any signs of a Sneakoscope, he found one and cast a Silencing charm on it and put it somewhere in a corner where Dumbledore wouldn't see it. Sirius decided to try out a new spell he learned. After casting it, the floor looked ordinary from above, but from below they were able to see clearly into the room. Satisfied that that was the best setup, they went into the hole and hid. They didn't have to wait long 'till he finally came, but he brought with him unexpected company.

Sirius jaw dropped open slightly.

"Now, I expect both of you don't know why you're here."

"No, sir."

"Neither do I, headmaster."

Dumbledore nodded and then picked up his wand and pointed it at the office door. A soft click could be heard and Remus understood that the door was locked, which made him fidget a bit. Harry didn't know what to think about this situation.

"I shall make it short for the both of you. You are a hindrance to my plans!" He said and pointed his wand at them.

"What do you mean, headmaster?" Remus asked disbelievingly, drawing his wand slowly. Any sudden movements could make Dumbledore attack them; he needed to get some time. Harry's hand moved to his robe pocket too.

"Exactly what I said, Remus. Once I kill both of you, it will be much easier to control and destroy the wizarding world!"

"So it was you after all." Remus said.

Not a moment all three of them had their wands drawn, Both Harry's and Remus' at Dumbledore and Dumbledore at Remus, his other hand prepared to fire wandless magic at Harry.

"Professor Dumbledore, it's true then, what Ed told me?" Harry started, his voice wavered a bit, but his wand was held firmly.

"I wouldn't know what he told you, now would I, Harry?"

"You're trying to destroy the wizarding world? Then James and Lily's muder... Were you also responsible for that?" Remus asked, Sirius knew his friend really well and judging from his deadly calm demeanor, he was pretty angry.

"Yes, yes, and I have to thank your friend Peter Pettigrew for siding with me. The good side shall prevail after all. But enough with the chitchat."

Harry saw how the glass of the office froze and icicles formed. The two hidden people knew that feeling all too well.

"Both you shall die here tonight. A sad tragedy it is, the Boy-Who-Lived and one of his parents' best friends, dying in the headmaster's office..." He said, opening the window.

"WHY!" Harry shouted at him, as the first cloaked figures came into the room.

"There is no need for you to understand why." Dumbledore said with a small smile on his face.

Ed's mind had gone blank for a moment, but then without thinking he clapped his hands and touched the floor, transmutating it into a fist that knocked the dementors away from both Harry and Remus and cleared the floor for them to get out of their hideout. Dumbledore took a shocked step backward. Remus summoned his Patronus to block off some of the beasts. Another clap resounded and a dementor flew into bits and pieces.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Sirius yelled, throwing his spell at Dumbledore, who blocked it just on time.

Ed continued clapping and destroying dementors, but there seemed to be far more than anyone had expected. Remus pulled Harry aside, so he could better protect him.

"Sirius!" He called.

Sirius couldn't afford to spare him a glance, so he just nodded after avoiding one of Dumbledore's return attacks.

"I can help too!" Harry insisted.

"You're annoying!" Dumbledore said and shot a spell toward Harry. He then turned to Ed to try to land a few spells on him, but the teen avoided quickly and continued creating bigger heaps of dementor dust in the office.

Remus pushed him aside, intending to protect Harry with his life. Harry however didn't feel like losing anyone in the moment and pushed Remus away again, who fell onto the floor. The spell seemed like it would hit Harry, but just before the impact, it change course and smashed into some of Dumbledore's silver instruments instead. They blew up sending bits of silver flying throughout the room. Harry threw himself onto the floor beside Remus to cover his face and Ed created a wall by means of Alchemy. Dumbledore created a shield to protect himself and clicked his tongue, he had been expecting Remus to shield Harry, but he didn't think Harry would have pushed Remus away. The spell Voldemort had cast to protect the boy were still strong. But Sirius, who was standing furthest away from the explosion, cast a stunning spell on the elder wizard with more force than would have been necessary. He hit Dumbledore, knocking him to the ground and rendering him unconscious, but not protecting himself had its consequences.

"Argh!"

"Sirius! What happened?" Remus yelled again, now standing up and running over to him.

Harry and Ed came over too. Sirius clutched his left eye, from which blood was dripping onto the floor.

"No worries, just my eye... Nothing big..."

"Let me take out the shard." Remus prompted.

"It's fine, I can do it by myself. More importantly, Ed, check the old man."

"Right." Dumbledore was indeed unconscious. Ed bound him and took away his wand, although he probably didn't really need it.

"Remus, Ed, what's going on?" Harry finally decided to ask, he seemed extremely lost.

Remus was about to start explaining, but then both Sirius and Ed cut him off and then Sirius elaborated: "We need to get this guy questioned first. We only have this one chance, so let's get a move on. I suggest you come along, Harry." Sirius expression softened as he looked at Harry's face. Harry looked to Ed and Remus to confirm that Sirius could be trusted, and they both nodded. Remus cast a spell on his friend's eye.

"It'll help with the pain." He said.

Ed ripped off part of his pants and transmutated it so it would be better suited as a bandage and helped Sirius cover his wounded eye with it. Sirius thanked them and took out Fudge's handkerchief.

"Just grab on and don't let go, Harry." Sirius said.

Remus and Ed each took hold of Dumbledore from different sides and held the cloth as well.

"Cheesecake!" Sirius said.

And then the headmaster's office spinned out of sight and the Wizengamot courtroom appeared before them. Harry having never travelled this way before landed on his behind.

"What's this? Looks like we have more guests than we had anticipated." One of the violet clad wizards said.

A few people rushed to them, including Fudge. Some went to check Dumbledore's status while a few went to lead the others to some seats in the back of the room. Ed guessed that nearly everyone in the Wizengamot was present, not all of them were necessarily on their side. Remus quickly introduced Harry to Sirius, his last remaining friend from their school days. Then he started explaining to Harry how he had retrieved the Marauder's Map from Filch's office and noticed that Pettigrew was alive, thus making him suspect something fishy was going on with Dumbledore . Harry was still not very comfortable around Sirius, which both Ed and Remus could see pained the godfather a great deal, but neither of them said anything about it. The room quieted and the attention shifted to the wizard in the front who was now giving Dumbledore, who was locked to the magic disabling chair, the Veritaserum that Ed had brewed. After feeding him every last drop from the vial, the wizard retreated to his seat and another one casted a 'Rennervate' on Dumbledore. As soon as Dumbledore stirred the questioning began.

"Full name?" Someone asked.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." He said without wavering.

As the others were still stunned that two kids and two adults really managed to capture and contain the famous Albus Dumbledore, Fudge decided to take the lead, Ed had warned him that Albus might fight the potion relatively fast.

"Did you kill the Potters?"

"Yes, I did."

"Was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named trying to destroy the wizarding world?"

"No, he wasn't."

"Were you?"

"Yes, I was."

Throughout the questioning the delay between Fudges questions and Dumbledore's answers had been growing steadily longer.

"Why are you trying to destroy the wizarding community?"

Dumbledore didn't answer, he must have been fighting the potion in hopes that whatever plan he had was not revealed before he was free and had magic to fight back with.

Just when Fudge was about to ask him again, someone in the Wizengamot stood up.

"We have to stop this, this is absurd! Obviously one of them must have messed with the potion or with Dumbledore's memories. We must let him go now!"

Before anyone could react, the wizard had drawn his wand and pointed it straight at Dumbledore's chair. A yellow light engulfed the chair and then the locks opened up. Dumbledore started laughing evilly and everyone, including the wizard who had just let him go, was so startled that they didn't move.

"I must thank you my friend. You ask why? It's simple really, because everything about wizards is driving me nuts! All wizards do every day is fight amongst themselves and discriminate against our non-magical brethren! That is why I aim to destroy the whole wizarding world and none of you are able to stop me!"

At once the whole room was in chaos. Those in the back fled the room hurriedly as Dumbledore flicked his hands on both sides, causing powerful gusts of wind to lift everything from parchment to small wizards into the air. The four special guests quickly ducked onto the ground and managed to protect themselves from the gusts with the help of the benches. Waving his hand, Dumbledore summoned a wand to himself and proceeded to close all the doors, so no one could escape. Ed clapped his hands and slammed them onto the locked door, breaking through the magical lock and then completely vanishing the door so that there was more space for people to escape.

"You Elric are the most irritating little brat I've ever met!" Dumbledore shouted.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE COULD BE SQUISHED BY AN ANT'S SPINDLY LEGS!" Ed shouted back at the old wizard, while he smashed his hands on the floor again, causing earthen spikes accompanied by blue lights to shoot out of the ground and head towards Dumbledore, who merely lifted his hands up and with that simple gesture floated high enough not to be hit by the attack.

"I'm not going to lose this time, you sick old man!"

Ed clapped again and placed his hands on the wall. More spikes shot out horizontally headed straight for Dumbledore he lowered himself slightly too little. Other than his hat, nothing was damaged. Harry, Remus and Sirius were the only other ones left in there shooting spells continually at Dumbledore. Now that the room wasn't crowded, the old headmaster was an easy target for the four of them to gang up on, so he decided to try a different approach. With a few flicks of his hands, Dumbledore soared out of the room and floated backward through the corridors, all the while shooting spells at his pursuers. It was easy for Ed to avoid, but less so for the other three, especially Sirius, who seemed to be having difficulties judging his distance from the spells. So instead of avoiding all of them, he blocked a few here and there, leaving the rest to Remus. They followed him all the way until the elevator, where the old man entered one of them and descended to the ninth level. The four of them quickly got into the other one and anxiously followed the man down. Ed had no idea what was down there, but there was no way he'd wait up there for the old man to come up again, when in reality he might have already let Dumbledore escape. From the expression the two adults had on their faces, they did not know what Dumbledore was planning either.

"Be careful all of you, the Department of Mysteries is down here. We don't know what's in it, so watch yourself." Remus said.

"Got it." Ed said, the scientist in him wondering what the place was all about.

When the elevator opened, all of them were standing to the side, just in case Dumbledore would fire something directly at them when they tried to come out. A red bolt of light, presumably the Stunning spell, hit the back wall of the elevator; however it caused no damage, since it only worked on living beings. Ed crouched low and put his hands together and then quickly touched the floor with one of his hands, sending spikes at Dumbledore again, just to distract him long enough for them to exit the lift. They found themselves in an extraordinarily plain corridor with a simple black door at the end, towards which Dumbledore was heading. The old man seemed to be waiting for them to reach him while firing spells at them. When they were quite close, he opened the door and floated through it into the next room. The four of them followed him into the circular room. Ed looked back only as the door shut itself and the walls began spinning, so fast that his eyes couldn't follow the door they had come from, while casting spells at Dumbledore and avoiding those cast by the man. When he had to do a dodge roll to avoid one of the spells, Ed finally saw the floor. It was so highly polished that it could have been mistaken for standing water. For a short moment it made him lose his balance, his mind telling him that he should be falling into it. That was when the wall stopped rotating and Ed saw the handle-less black doors, each exactly the same as the other. Dumbledore moved up to one of them and turned back to smirk before entering it. Ed, provoked by that small gesture, followed him into the chamber. The other three entered as well. In contrast to the previous room, this one was squarish. It was fairly big and dimly lit and somewhat resembled the courtroom they had been in before the chase had started. The whole room seemed to be made of stone. Stone piers led down to the center where upon a dais a tall ancient stone archway was presented. From this archway hung a black tattered cloth which swayed gently in a non-existent wind. Taking a few steps closer to it, Ed thought he heard voices and felt completely drawn to its elegant shape and gentle movements, despite getting a bad feeling from it.

"Ed, stop!" Sirius yelled, already busy with restraining Harry from trying to approach it.

"It's no use! The stupid child is completely mesmerized by it!" Dumbledore stated laughing like a maniac.

But Ed didn't really care about the voices around him. As he got closer the voices from beyond the black veil became louder and more distinguished from one another. He thought he could make out what a few of them were saying. Remus couldn't get him to move away from it as Dumbledore kept him busy with some spells. Ed took a step up the veil and closed his eyes, listening to the voices calling him to go to them.

_'You're mine now.'_ One voice louder than the rest said.

Ed's eyes opened instantly and took a step back. Those tempting voices, the calls, he remembered what they were.

_'The gate!'_ Ed thought.

The headmaster seemed surprised at him being able to tear away from the tempting of the veil. Ed drew his wand and aimed it at Dumbledore, who was floating right above the archway.

"Stupefy!" He called.

Red light shot out. Dumbledore avoided to the side before the spell was even close to him. But to Ed's surprise, the spell suddenly changed course and headed right into the black cloth-like substance. It absorbed it, leading the archway to glow for a moment. Ed stepped back in fear that something would happen, but nothing else happened. The voices threatened to make him lose his focus again. But he aimed his wand at Dumbledore again and consistently fired spells at him. But like before, all of them were just absorbed into the tattered black cloth.  
_  
'Shit! What the hell is this? I can't use my magic? Then why the hell can he do it? Damn! He's too high up, I'll waste way too much energy making spikes that tall!'_

Not only Dumbledore's but the other three's magic seemed to be fine as well. Harry had also regained his composure thanks to Sirius' persuasion.

"Hah! Your magic is useless, Elric! Expelliarmus!"

Ed felt his hand jerk and he lost grip of his wand which flew in the direction of the veil and then disappeared beyond it.

_'Damn!'_

Despite knowing it would cost him a lot of energy and possibly lead to a disadvantage, Ed clapped and shot spikes toward, Dumbledore. The spikes were normal, but Ed realized the transmutation lights were purple.

_'Oh no, a bad sign...'_

A strong gust blew from somewhere, sending Dumbledore towards the floor. The wind seemed to be rushed wildly around the room and it felt as if the gravitational force had increased. Ed clapped again, this time a hand shot out of the ground and was about to slam Dumbledore, but he countered with the Reductor curse. Again, it was accompanied by purple light and the stone archway lit up, now glowing a bright yellow.

"What the hell are you doing, Ed!" Sirius yelled down to him from the edge of the room.

"I'm not doing anything! It has to be the room reacting or something, I don't know!" He yelled back.

Although Dumbledore was equally puzzled, he used the confusion of the moment and was about to fire a spell at Sirius, Harry and Remus who were standing together, trying to help each other resist the weird storm in the middle of the ministry of magic. Ed noticed on time and clapped again, transmutating more spikes so that Dumbledore was forced to avoid.

"You stupid annoying brat!" He called.

Ed rushed forward, attempting to knock the wand away from Dumbledore, at least then his spells wouldn't be that strong. The voices became louder as he approached, because Dumbledore was standing in front of the structure. Just when Ed tackled him and slammed him to the floor, Ed noticed something out of the corner of his eyes. With one hand still on Dumbledore, he turned around and his eyes widened when he saw little black hands shooting out of the veil and grasping every inch of his and Dumbledore's bodies. The voices became so plentiful that they melted into a collective buzzing in the back of his mind. And then in a single moment they vanished completely.

The wind died down, the glowing ceased and the gravity seemed to have returned to normal.

All was quiet.

"What just happened?" Remus asked.

"No idea man." Sirius replied.

Both of the adults had to hold Harry back to stop him from jumping in after his friend.

"Ed!" He called desperately.

* * *

Ed found himself staring up at the gate surrounded by a vast plain of white. This gate was the way he remembered it: black and menacing with double doors and what appeared to be an upside down tree. But something else caught his attention. Engraved onto this gate were four magical beasts:  
_  
'Two Thestrals, a Griffin and a Hippogriff.' _Ed thought to himself.

"What is this place!" Dumbledore asked in a panic.

Ed didn't know what to say either.

"Yo! It's good to see you again."

Ed turned around to see an invisible figure, as absurd as that sounded. It was invisible, yet it stood out from the white in the background. It was clearly sitting there on the ground, yet it didn't cast a shadow, unlike him or the old man. Ed ground his teeth together.

"What're you going to take from me this time?" He asked, feeling extremely calm although he knew what it could do.

"What? Oho! As much as I would like to take something from you, Mr. Alchemist, I can't. But it appears you don't understand why. Oh well, I guess I don't mind telling you since we have some time." The thing said, completely ignoring Dumbledore's confusion.

"What do you mean we have time?" Ed questioned.

"One question at a time, Mr. Alchemist. I've already taken all that I'm allowed to. All those spells you've casted sure must have cost a lot of energy and your wand also accounts for a lot, so I simply can't take anymore. It's an equivalent trade after all, no? As for your other question, magic is simply more difficult to consume than physical things, so I really don't like this, just remember that. Congratulations though, you've finally found a way to return to where you belong without sacrificing anything of significant value to you. It does make me somewhat mad though. Then again, it's just a one way thing, so if you do want to go back there, you'll have to find another way."

It said and then grinned at Ed with its pearly white teeth.

"W-What are you!" Dumbledore shouted at it.  
_  
'Considering his age, this must be the first time in a long time that he's faced something unfamiliar.'_ Ed thought.

The white figure's grin just grew wider. "What I am? Hehehe... haven't done this in a while, let's see... I am God, the world, the universe and all, but most importantly... I'm you." His face spread out into a wicked grin once more and the gate behind them opened.

Ed and Dumbledore were once more grabbed by the hands and pulled into the black abyss. Ed felt the nonsensical random information getting cramped into his mind again; it was the same every time. He supposed he could get used to it, but then quickly berated himself for thinking that anyone would pass willingly through the gate so many times that they could get used to the information flood. He wondered where he would be deposited.

* * *

"Al, thanks for helping out with the colonel."

"No, no, it's alright, Lieutenant Hawkeye. Me and brother, we owe him a lot, don't we? I just did what I could. You really don't have to treat me for lunch-" Suddenly Al stopped. Something felt extremely strange all of a sudden.

"Al, what's wrong?" Riza asked, worry written across her face. Suddenly Al felt it, a powerful surge of energy came from within him and a huge eye appeared right in the middle of the space in front of Central's military headquarters. Some black tentacles emerged and spat out a young blond teenager and an old man with a long beard and weird clothes. Hawkeye immediately pulled out her gun and pointed it from one to the other. Al's eyes grew wide.

"Brother!" He yelled and ran towards the teen.

"Al!" He said and hugged him tightly.

Although the difference in height was painfully obvious, Ed ignored it.

"Ed?" A familiar voice asked. Roy Mustang had just come from the front gates of the headquarters. A smirk formed on his face.

"So you were alive after all."

"So are you." Ed said, refraining from saying anything rude.

"Who's that?" Roy asked when he saw Riza's gun still pointed at an old man on the floor.

"That's what I was just about to ask too." She said.

"Fools!" Dumbledore shouted, taking his wand in his hand once more and standing up.

"He's just an old lunatic, but it would probably be better if the military put him in a mental institution."

Roy raised his eyebrow.

The old headmaster was angered by this display of arrogance. "I shall teach you your place! Stupify! Ha!" He shouted, but nothing happened.

"Ah, you must be Mr. Dumbledore. I think magic doesn't work on this side of the gate, though." Al said innocently.

Ed thought he might have pitied the elderly man.

"Magic?" Both Roy and Riza asked, a bit confused.

"I'll tell you about it later. What do you think we should do with him Lieutenant?"

"Hmm... We can't let him go, since a crazy old man might scare the children of Central. I think your proposal might work best." Out of nowhere she flipped out some handcuffs and put them around Dumbledore's hands.

"Nooo!" He shouted, while being pulled by Riza.

* * *

"Al? Could you come help in the kitchen? And Ed! Get up already!" Winry called.

"You do realize that you're not getting one bit to eat if you don't get up right now, don't you?"

"Okay, Winry." Al called.

"Yeah, yeah, m'coming Winry..." Ed muttered.

"Geez, you do realize that I'm not your mother, right?" And then she shook her head and sighed. "I'll never get used to both of you practically being twins."

Ed yawned and scratched his back.

He had decided to join the military again, simply because he didn't know anything else he could do to earn a living. Of course he passed the state alchemist exam with flying colors. As for his alchemist name, they decided to leave it as it was; the new Führer wasn't as creative as the last. Once again, he had been assigned under colonel Roy Mustang. Although Roy had helped find out about the conspiracy that involved the last Führer, he was not promoted. They said that his leaving the military like that had been very irresponsible, but he still had the opportunity to rise in rank through further good deeds. As usual, Roy had started calling Ed anything that could be associated to the word short, but he did admit that Ed was taller than he had been the previous time he'd been that age. He still liked giving Ed missions where both of them knew that something would explode or get destroyed even before the mission had started. But at the moment he was on vacation, so he decided to come back to Resembool, which he did pretty often anyway. Actually, it was the anniversary of the day Al finally got a cat. Winry had decided it was okay to have one cat, since Den was lonely. Ed didn't mind, but he didn't have any say on the subject anyway since it was not his house. Like all state alchemists, he was supposed to be researching something he could report at the annual assessment, but he wasn't really sure what to research at the moment.

Ed blinked away the sleep in his eyes and noticed that there was a letter lying on his nose. Wondering who it might be from, he flipped it over. He blinked a few more times confusedly before his jaw finally dropped. He quickly tore it open and pulled out a few sheets of parchment.

'Hey Ed! How're you doing? Sirius, here. Don't know if you'll get this letter, but I'm going to write anyway. I still remember that day really well. After you vanished some 'Unspeakables' came to get us out of there. They're the people who work down there for your information. Anyway, they were highly interested in what happened, so we described it to them and somehow or another, they had managed to reproduce the effect so we decided to drop a letter and see if you got it. Life's much better without that old coot. I got to adopt Harry, now that I'm free and we're living together in a house I bought. Oh, but we're only there when Harry's not in school. During the year I go to Gregorovitch, I've become his apprentice. I'm kind of amazed that it takes so much skill to make wands. Can't tell you how happy I am with my life. Oh yeah, a lot of people wanted to write in this letter, don't know who leaked the information. So you better be ready to read for some time.'

Ed eagerly read on:

'How're you, Ed? It's me Harry. I feel bad we didn't get to talk much and that everything was so hectic in the end. I'm sorry for not really believing you, you know down in the Chamber of Secrets, I just couldn't really believe all that stuff you said. But I do now. Everything's been proven. I heard that in a personal diary he even wrote his plans for his own suicide once he had been able to kill every other wizard on the face of the planet, he must have been obsessed with muggles or something. I finally got away from the Dursleys! I never have to see Dudley's fat again. I hope you're doing well on your end too. Oh by the way, Hermione and Ron are sorry for suspecting you, but Ron was too embarrassed to write in such a letter and Hermione didn't know what to write, so I'll just apologize for them. I hope you could find some way to write back, that'd be cool.'

'It is, I, Draco Malfoy! Just kidding. Hey you left me and went off and had fun fighting Dumbledore together with Sirius and Harry and professor Lupin! That's not fair. Man I wanted to get to say bye to you, but you just up and disappeared together with Dumbledore. I hope he didn't murder you, did he? Anway, you owe me one for letting you sneak into Hogwarts as my pet! And you better find some way to be able to visit us, because you will return the favor. Half of the members of the Wizengamot were changed as they had been found to be too useless. Fudge didn't get sacked, in fact he seems more confident from the speeches I heard, so all's going well really. Oh, and I nearly forgot to tell you, Pansy was admitted into St. Mungo's magical hospital for being a nutter and trying to kill animals, magical familiars no less. They think it's a magical sickness. She ain't going to disturb me now.'

Trisha, Alphonse, Elmar, Remus, Fudge, some random people he assumed were from the Wizengamot, McGonagall, Snape, more random people he assumed were students, just that he had never noticed them. The list of people who wrote went on and on. At that moment, Ed decided he would spend his time looking for a way to write back to these people that had filled up a significant amount of time in his life. In the moment, the letter was the only thing he had that held all his memories from his time in the other world. He already had the beginnings of a theory worked out in his mind.

_'All I have to do is find a way to reverse the flow of magic that brought me here!'

* * *

_

More A/N: So, the story ends... I can't say I like the way I ended it very much, but I couldn't think of any other way to do it. The plot really changed quite a bit from the original plan I had in mind. There were a lot of small things that I wanted to write about more, but somehow I just couldn't fit them in. Many new ideas that were added came from you, the readers, who have told me what they think. So, I thank all of you who gave your ideas and opinions. I hope I can improve through this, but I probably won't be writing for a while because I need to catch up with some of my other hobbies (including sleep). Well, then... 'Till next time!


End file.
